Thornton Wilder

An incinerator is a writer's best friend.

But such occasions of excellence became less and less frequent. As her technique became sounder, [her] sincerity became less necessary.

There is no need for me to curse you -the murderer survives the victim only to learn that it was himself that he longed to be rid of. Hatred is self-hatred.

Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve. Physician, draw back.

There is nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

When you're at war, you think about a better life; when you're at peace you think about a more comfortable one.

The planting of trees is the least self-centered of all that we can do. It is a purer act of faith than the procreation of children.

Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value.

The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.

It is only in appearance that time is a river. It is rather a vast landscape and it is the eye of the beholder that moves.

I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts.

Life is an unbroken succession of false situations.

There is no creation without faith and hope. There is no faith and hope that does not express itself in creation.

Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.

There is one regard in which bullies show real perception when compared with their victims; it is their silent good-natured pleasure of the moment.

For what human ill does dawn not seem to be alternative?

I think I write in order to discover on my shelf a new book that I would enjoy reading, or to see a new play that would engross me.

Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you.

Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests.

There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

[Whenever] you get near the human race, there's layers and layers of nonsense.