If I wanted to change the world, the last thing I would do is write a play.
Interpretation
Writing a play may seem insignificant in the larger context of making meaningful change.
In this quote, Tom Stoppard reflects on the idea that if one truly desires to affect change in the world, one might consider more impactful actions rather than artistic endeavors like writing a play. This highlights the tension between art and social activism, suggesting that tangible results often require a different approach than mere artistic expression.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of social activism, one might reference this quote to emphasize practical actions over artistic endeavors.
Love is - OK, it's 20 things, but it isn't 19. And I think that love reaches for something which is very, very deep in us and is very easily obscured, and is also very easily denied, which is the instinct towards the other person, other than toward the self.
A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar - you pretend it's not there.
I once did a radio program with a famous materialist, that is to say a scientist who believed that absolutely everything was physical and that all emotions were reductive to little electrical impulses in your neurons. And I found that I didn't believe that. But what the emotions really are, I don't have an alternative theory.
One of the reasons why there are so many versions of Chekhov is that translations date in a way that the original doesn't; translations seem to be of their time.
A Chinaman of the T'ang Dynasty—and, by which definition, a philosopher—dreamed he was a butterfly, and from that moment he was never quite sure that he was not a butterfly dreaming it was a Chinese philosopher. Envy him; in his two-fold security.
Chekhov directors and Chekhov actors love working on his plays because there seems to be no end to what you can find out about the micro-narrative when you're investigating a text.
The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us.
If you want to reach out for something new, you must first let go of what’s in your hand.
Some people say that I should study to become a climate scientist so that I can 'solve the climate crisis.' But the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is to wake up and change.
I think that any time you get into an area where it requires humility, and accountability, it's gonna get touchy. And so I understand the reality of when someone says something that requires you to look at yourself and change, it's not easy.
We can celebrate the speed at which LGBT equality has progressed, but we also have to acknowledge that it wasn't fast enough, because too many people didn't get to experience it. We can never be too impatient.
I've never wanted to grow up too fast. I wanted to wear a sports bra until I was 22! ... The allure of being sexy never really held any excitement for me. I've never been in a terrible rush to be seen as a woman.
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