Donald Margulies famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

Telling takes away the need to write. It relieves the pressure. And once that tension dissipates, so does the need to relieve it. First write it, then weâ€™ll talk about it.
-- Donald Margulies

#Writing #Doe #Needs
Playwriting is all about empathy, getting inside the head of someone who is not you, to think like they think without judging them.
-- Donald Margulies

#Thinking #Judging #Empathy
People often tell me, "You write such great women." I don't think about it, I just write characters as rigorously and as truthfully as I can and hope, no matter their gender, that their humanity comes through.
-- Donald Margulies

#Writing #Character #Thinking
Choosing a director is like choosing a therapist - you want somebody who is going to be a step or two ahead of you, who can interpret and articulate your intentions better than you can, with the benefit of objectivity. I look for a collaborator who is going to help bring to life, on stage, in three dimensions, what is on the page. I wouldn't want a director who imposes conceits or distrusts the text or who has prejudged the characters.
-- Donald Margulies

#Character #Objectivity #Two
I like to flip through play scripts, not just my own; there is something exciting about seeing printed language on a page that triggers responses in me.
-- Donald Margulies

#Play #Scripts #Flip
I love the students - they are remarkable, inspiring people. I would miss teaching if I stopped doing it. The kind of work I do is pretty diverse: I can cast a play while doing a polish of a screenplay, while thinking about a new play and revising another. In other words, the kind of work that I do during my work day is not just writing, yet it is all part of the job of being a playwright.
-- Donald Margulies

#Jobs #Teaching #Writing
I've come to view screenwriting assignments as playwriting grants, because they provide a considerable financial cushion. However, they can also be extremely time-consuming. Film projects tend to drag on and on, which takes me away from the theatre, and then they don't get made. At the same time, the screenplays that have come my way have been quite challenging, for the most part, and even enjoyable.
-- Donald Margulies

#Views #Challenges #Theatre

Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being.
If the English language had been properly organized ... then there would be a word which meant both 'he' and 'she', and I could write, 'If John or Mary comes heesh will want to play tennis', which would save a lot of trouble.
Nature, not content with denying him the ability to think, has endowed him with the ability to write.
The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite.
When I write I have no loyalty except to historical truth as I see it and care no more about British achievements and mistakes than any other.
Art does not exist for politics, or for instruction- it exists primarily for pleasure, or it is nothing.
Funny... I still can't believe in God." "Does that matter now?"..."He believes in you.
The American people have no control over what the military does. We have no say in American foreign policy.
Aggressive Christianity is the world's greatest need.
A diary need not be a dreary chronicle of one's movements; it should aim rather at giving salient account of some particular episode, a walk, a book, a conversation.

Donald Margulies famous quotes

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