The primary function of a theatre is not to please itself, or even to please its audience. It is to serve talent.

- Robert Brustein

Without an elite in the arts, we have no leaders, which is to say we have no vision, which is to say we have no arts.

- Robert Brustein

Theater going is a communal act, movie going a solitary one.

- Robert Brustein

No enlightened person would deny its premise, but as an ongoing program it is monotonous, limited, locked in a perception of victimization.

- Robert Brustein

The commercial theatre may still be considered one of New York's primary tourist attractions, but . . . there is no longer an audience for serious Br…

- Robert Brustein

The invention of film has given our generation the dubious advantage of watching our acting heroes deteriorate before our eyes.

- Robert Brustein

The love that previously dared not speak its name has now grown hoarse from screaming it.

- Robert Brustein

On Laurence Olivier as Hamlet in a 1948 film: Olivier's idea of introspection was to hood his eyes, dentalize his consonants and let the camera circl…

- Robert Brustein