You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.
Elia KazanRead
I gave my life to the Group Theatre, because in it I'm building something for myself. What I build, I am.
Interpretation
The quote expresses commitment to a creative endeavor and its deep personal significance.
Elia Kazan highlights the profound connection between his identity and his work with the Group Theatre. He suggests that through his artistic contributions, he is not only expressing himself but also constructing his own identity and legacy within the community of artists, indicating that one's creative path can serve as a foundation for personal fulfillment and self-realization.
In practice
In a speech about dedication to the arts at a community event.
You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.
Acting... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick?
I've come to believe that everything worth achieving is beyond one's capacity - or seems so at first. The thing is to persist, not back off, fight your fight, pay your dues, and carry on. Effort is all; continue and you may get there despite everything.
A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but it is bitter and unforgettable.
I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.
We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world forever, it seems.
Beauty is a form of Genius--is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in the dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.
What I want to give in the theatre is beauty, that's what I want to give.
Music is the framework around the silence.
Invention presupposes imagination but should not be confused with it.
Often I don't know what the song means until it's finished. Sometimes months later. I don't think that's bad. It implies that I don't know what I'm doing but-I think if you're able to follow your instincts, then that's knowing what you're doing.
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