Do you know what a playwright is? A playwright is someone who lets his guts hang out on the stage.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that democracy provides us with choices, yet we always end up with the outcomes that reflect our collective character and decisions.
Edward Albee's quote reflects the complex relationship between personal responsibility and democratic governance. While democracy offers the freedom to pursue a wide range of desires, it ultimately holds us accountable for the consequences of our choices—implying that the state of our society is a direct mirror of our shared values and actions. In essence, it emphasizes that we reap what we sow as a community, highlighting the importance of civic engagement and moral responsibility in shaping our reality.
Themes
DemocracyResponsibilitySocietyChoicesValuesAccountability
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about civic engagement, one could say, 'As Edward Albee said, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.'
More from Edward Albee
All quotes →When 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
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
I think we should all live on the precipe of life, as fully and as dangerously as possible. Everyone should make the assumption that they're going through life only once. Tomorrow we die. Why not take chances, extend yourself? How awful it is when a person comes to the end of life full of regret.
Edward AlbeeRead
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Let me go to hell, that's all I ask, and go on cursing them there, and them look down and hear me, that might take some of the shine off their bliss.
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Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters.
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The empire of Christ the King includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith: so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ.
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I had become, with the approach of night, once more aware of loneliness and time - those two companions without whom no journey can yield us anything.
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