Arthur Miller citáty
Arthur Miller
Datum narození: 17. říjen 1915
Datum úmrtí: 10. únor 2005
Arthur Miller byl americký dramatik a esejista. V letech 1956–1961 byl manželem Marilyn Monroe.
V roce 1962 se oženil potřetí. Jeho manželkou a celoživotní partnerkou se stala Inge Morath – původem Rakušanka, významná fotografka, členka fotografické agentury Magnum Photos, představitelka humanistické fotografie . Wikipedia
Citáty Arthur Miller
„Truchlím nad tím, že nevěřím v Boha, protože byl ke mně tak dobrý.“
Zdroj: [Kalendárium, ceskatelevize.cz, 2011-03-22, http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1095927644-kalendarium/3153-vyhledavani/?searchType=date&kMonth=02&kDay=10]
„My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people's suffering“
1963 interview, used in The Century of the Self (2002)
Kontext: My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people's suffering; that the problem is not to undo suffering or to wipe it off the face of the earth but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to cure ourselves of it constantly and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call "happiness." There's too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It's part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad.
„I think it's a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one's self.“
— Arthur Miller, After the Fall
After the Fall (1964)
Kontext: I think it's a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one's self. One day the house smells of fresh bread, the next of smoke and blood. One day you faint because the gardener cuts his finger off, within a week you're climbing over corpses of children bombed in a subway. What hope can there be if that is so? I tried to die near the end of the war. The same dream returned each night until I dared not to go to sleep and grew quite ill. I dreamed I had a child, and even in the dream I saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept onto my lap again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever in it was my own, perhaps I could sleep. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible … but I kissed it. I think one must finally take one's life in one's arms.
„I've almost asked that question, then realized it's good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We're ranking everybody every minute of the day.“
Paris Review (Summer 1966)
Kontext: Success, instead of giving freedom of choice, becomes a way of life. There's no country I've been to where people, when you come into a room and sit down with them, so often ask you, "What do you do?" And, being American, many's the time I've almost asked that question, then realized it's good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We're ranking everybody every minute of the day.
„Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.“
As quoted in Finding Your Bipolar Muse : How to Master Depressive Droughts and Manic Depression (2006) by Lana R. Castle, p. 258
„There's too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It's part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad.“
1963 interview, used in The Century of the Self (2002)
Kontext: My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness, when in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know have come out of people's suffering; that the problem is not to undo suffering or to wipe it off the face of the earth but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to cure ourselves of it constantly and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call "happiness." There's too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him. Of defining him rather than letting him go. It's part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad.
„Just remember, kid, you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.“
Varianta: You can quicker get back a million dollars that was stolen than a word that you gave away.
Zdroj: A View from the Bridge: A Play in Two Acts
„Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.“
— Arthur Miller, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan
Act 1
The Ride Down Mount Morgan (1991)
Zdroj: The Ride Down Mt. Morgan
„I'm a fatalist. … I consider I am rejected in principle. My work is and, through my work, I am. If it's accepted, it's miraculous or the result of a misunderstanding.“
As quoted in "Arthur Miller, Moral Voice of American Stage, Dies at 89" by Marilyn Berger in The New York Times (11 February 2005) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/theater/newsandfeatures/11cnd-miller.html?ei=5070&en=3842d0df3195ba4c&ex=1148356800&adxnnlx=1148209567-ZnjnGzbndB3P1XvCU5BNDg&pagewanted=all&position=
„I saw clearly only when I saw with love. Or can one ever remember love? It's like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume. And that's the truth of roses, isn't it? — The perfume?“
— Arthur Miller, After the Fall
Quentin in After the Fall (1964) Act II
After the Fall (1964)
„The Crucible became by far my most frequently produced play, both abroad and at home. Its meaning is somewhat different in different places and moments.“
Timebends : A Life (1987)
Kontext: The Crucible became by far my most frequently produced play, both abroad and at home. Its meaning is somewhat different in different places and moments. I can almost tell what the political situation in a country is when the play is suddenly a hit there — it is either a warning of tyranny on the way or a reminder of tyranny just past.
„In this age few tragedies are written.“
Tragedy and the Common Man (1949)
Kontext: In this age few tragedies are written. It has often been held that the lack is due to a paucity of heroes among us, or else that modern man has had the blood drawn out of his organs of belief by the skepticism of science, and the heroic attack on life cannot feed on an attitude of reserve and circumspection. For one reason or another, we are often held to be below tragedy — or tragedy above us.
„He is a kind of psychic journalist, even when he's great.“
Paris Review (Summer 1966)
Kontext: A playwright … is … the litmus paper of the arts. He's got to be, because if he isn't working on the same wave length as the audience, no one would know what in hell he was talking about. He is a kind of psychic journalist, even when he's great.
„Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more.“
— Arthur Miller, The Crucible
John Proctor
The Crucible (1953)
Kontext: I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more.
