A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material.
Sam ShepardRead
I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the preference for nuanced perspectives over black-and-white moral distinctions in human interactions.
Sam Shepard's quote highlights a critical view of the simplistic labeling of individuals as good or bad, suggesting that such categorizations foster division and barriers between people. Instead, Shepard advocates for a more complex understanding of human nature, recognizing the shades of gray that define our interactions and experiences, which ultimately promotes empathy and connection rather than separation.
Themes
EmpathyNuanceHumanityConnectionDivision
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about morality in films, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of complexity in storytelling.
More from Sam Shepard
All quotes →I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius.
Sam ShepardRead
There are places where writing is acting and acting is writing. I'm not so interested in the divisions. I'm interested in the way things cross over.
Sam ShepardRead
Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
Sam ShepardRead
On stage, you're not limited at all because you're free in language: language is the source of the imagination. You can travel farther in language than you can in any film.
Sam ShepardRead
There's no way to escape the fact that we've grown up in a violent culture, we just can't get away from it, it's part of our heritage. I think part of it is that we've always felt somewhat helpless in the face of this vast continent. Helplessness is answered in many ways, but one of them is violence.
Sam ShepardRead
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