I'll tell you something, and this is true: I've never been able to write a film which I didn't respect. I just can't do it. I'm very happy about all the films I haven't done.
Harold PinterRead
The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, and anguished or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
Interpretation
Speech often conceals our true feelings and vulnerabilities, acting as a barrier to authenticity.
In this quote, Harold Pinter suggests that the way we communicate often hides our innermost thoughts and emotions. Speech serves as a protective layer, allowing us to avoid vulnerability, while true silence reveals the raw truth of our existence. The metaphor of speech as a 'smoke screen' indicates that our words can mislead or disguise our true selves, and in genuine silence, we confront our actual state of being.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about the challenges of honest communication in relationships.
I'll tell you something, and this is true: I've never been able to write a film which I didn't respect. I just can't do it. I'm very happy about all the films I haven't done.
All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.
I do tend to think that I've written a great deal out of my unconscious because half the time I don't know what a given character is going to say next.
I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.
It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.
There are places in my heart...where no living soul...has...or can ever...trespass.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN? The Death of Rats looked up from the feast of the potato. SQUEAK, he said. Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY ME, he said. I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.
Live simply, so that all may simply live.
I have firmly decided to bite the dust with a minimum of medical assistance when my time comes, and up to then to sin to my wicked heart's content.
When I go to hell, I mean to carry a bribe: for look you, good gifts evermore make way for the worst persons.
Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.
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