The word "now" is like a bomb through the window, and it ticks.
Arthur MillerRead
Controlled hysteria is what's required. To exist constantly in a state of controlled hysteria. It's agony. But everyone has agony. The difference is that I try to take my agony home and teach it to sing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle of managing personal pain while finding a way to express it creatively.
Arthur Miller's quote highlights the idea that everyone experiences their own form of suffering or 'agony', but what sets individuals apart is their approach to dealing with this pain. Instead of being overwhelmed by it, Miller suggests adopting a mindset of 'controlled hysteria', where one channels their emotional turmoil into creativity, ultimately transforming their agony into art or expression. This speaks to the profound relationship between suffering and creativity, emphasizing that it is possible to find beauty and meaning even in hardship.
Themes
AgonyCreativityPainControlled HysteriaExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about resilience and creativity.
More from Arthur Miller
All quotes →Amos Oz is one of the finest novelists of this entire period. MY MICHAEL is a beautiful work of great depth and in some indescribable way lingers in the mind as a lyric song to his country's people as much as a moving love story.
Arthur MillerRead
Just remember, kid, you can quicker get back a million dollars that was stole than a word that you gave away.
Arthur MillerRead
Oh,Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer.
Arthur MillerRead
The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost.
Arthur MillerRead
Immortality is like trying to carve your initials in a block of ice in the middle of July.
Arthur MillerRead
Similar quotes
To me, the idea and expectation that the day is slowly and surely coming when we will be able to honestly say we are our brother's keeper and not his oppressor is very beautiful .
Thomas A. EdisonRead
Reason is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing away, change, they do not lie.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and hold that two morons are better than one genius?
Leo SzilardRead
There are no norms. All people are exceptions to a rule that doesn’t exist.
Fernando PessoaRead
With about a dozen assorted ongoing conflicts in the news every day, and with the stories becoming more horrific, the level of sadness becomes unbearable. And what becomes of our planet when that sadness becomes apathy? Because we feel helpless. And we turn our heads and turn the page.
Eddie VedderRead
We obey people we don't trust, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like, using money we don't have, for gratifications that don't last, killing animals we don't hate, for pleasures that don't satisfy, dreaming of a life we don't deserve, and praying for an afterlife that doesn't exist, we are a stupid species
Philip WollenRead