Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.
Edward AlbeeRead
Old people whimper, and cry, and belch, and make great hollow rumbling sounds at table; old people wake up in the middle of the night screaming, and find out they haven't even been asleep; and when old people are asleep, they try to wake up, and they can't... not for the longest time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the struggles and challenges faced by old age.
Edward Albee's quote poignantly captures the physical and emotional turmoil associated with aging. It confronts the reality of old age, where simple acts like eating and sleeping become laden with distress, highlighting the loneliness and suffering that can accompany this stage of life. The vivid imagery serves as a reminder of life's fragility and the inevitable decline that everyone faces.
Themes
AgingOld AgeSufferingLifeDecline
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the emotional challenges of aging during a seminar for caregivers.
More from Edward Albee
All quotes βWhen a critic sets himself up as an arbiter of morality, a judge of the matter and not the manner of a work, he is no longer a critic; he is a censor.
Edward AlbeeRead
I am convinced that no one is fully educated without a full grounding in the arts.
Edward AlbeeRead
Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it.
Edward AlbeeRead
Remember one thing about democracy. We can have anything we want and at the same time, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.
Edward AlbeeRead
Your source material is the people you know, not those you don't know, but every character is an extension of the author's own personality.
Edward AlbeeRead
Similar quotes
To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; To defy Power, which seems omnipotent; To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates From it's own wreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, not falter, nor repent; This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be Good, great and joyous,beautiful and free; This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory
Percy Bysshe ShelleyRead
Cast between the extremes of happiness and misfortune, uncertainty is a cruel torment.
Pierre Choderlos De LaclosRead
It's that idea that you can have one drink - and no you can't. Within a week I was drinking heavily. It was so quick that even I was like, 'Wow.' Because you have that initial warm feeling going, 'Oh, I remember this'. And your body does, too. And your body goes, 'Yeah, so do I'. Then the demon voice comes, 'Yeah, so do I. You know what would be great? You know we bought a little bottle before? A full bottle would be wonderful'.
Robin WilliamsRead
As long as you have a garden you have a future and as long as you have a future you are alive.
Frances Hodgson BurnettRead
LIVE for LIFE, but let live everybody
Marvin GayeRead
I had been riding horses before my memory kicked in, so my life with horses had no beginning. It simply appeared from the fog of infancy. I survived a difficult childhood by traveling on the backs of horses, and in adulthood the pattern didn't change.
Monty RobertsRead