Thornton Wilder quotes

Thornton Wilder was an American playwright and novelist celebrated for his innovative storytelling and profound themes. His most famous works include the plays "Our Town" and "The Skin of Our Teeth," which explored human existence and community. He won three Pulitzer Prizes and influenced generations of writers. Here are 88 of his quotes:

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. (Thornton Wilder)
Ninety-nine per cent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Man is not an end but a beginning. We are at the beginning of the second week. We are children of the eighth day. View quote
Thornton Wilder
We do not choose the day of our birth nor may we choose the day of our death, yet choice is the sovereign faculty of the mind. View quote
Thornton Wilder
I am convinced that, except in a few extraordinary cases, one form or another of an unhappy childhood is essential to the formation of exceptional gifts. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Literature is the orchestration of platitudes. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value. View quote
Thornton Wilder
I would love to be the poet laureate of Coney Island. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous. (Thornton Wilder)
The future author is one who discovers that language, the exploration and manipulation of the resources of language, will serve him in winning through to his way. View quote
Thornton Wilder
A dramatist is one who believes that the pure event, an action involving human beings, is more arresting than any comment that can be made upon it. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Those who are silent, self-effacing and attentive become the recipients of confidences. View quote
Thornton Wilder
It is only in appearance that time is a river. It is rather a vast landscape and it is the eye of the beholder that moves. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Marriage is a bribe to make the housekeeper think she's a householder. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Many plays - certainly mine - are like blank checks. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them. View quote
Thornton Wilder
The theatre is supremely fitted to say: 'Behold! These things are.' Yet most dramatists employ it to say: 'This moral truth can be learned from beholding this action.' View quote
Thornton Wilder
I've never forgotten for long at a time that living is struggle. I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for -- whether it's a field, or a home, or a country. View quote
Thornton Wilder
One of the dangers of the American artist is that he finds himself almost exclusively thrown in with persons more or less in the arts. He lives among them, eats among them, quarrels with them, marries them. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Many great writers have been extraordinarily awkward in daily exchange, but the greatest give the impression that their style was nursed by the closest attention to colloquial speech. (Thornton Wilder)
There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning. View quote
Thornton Wilder
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Winning children (who appear so guileless) are children who have discovered how effective charm and modesty and a delicately calculated spontaneity are in winning what they want. View quote
Thornton Wilder
Never support two weaknesses at the same time. It's your combination sinners --your lecherous liars and your miserly drunkards --who dishonor the vices and bring them into bad repute. View quote
Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder - Image
Occupation: American Playwright
Born: April 17, 1897
Died: December 7, 1975
Quotes count: 88
Wikipedia: Thornton Wilder

Related authors

Thomas Browne - thumbnail
Thomas Browne  114 
English Polymath
Gertrude Stein - thumbnail
Gertrude Stein  228 
American Author
Arthur Miller - thumbnail
Arthur Miller  191 
American Playwright
Laozi - thumbnail
Laozi  290 
Chinese Philosopher
Paul Hindemith - thumbnail
Paul Hindemith  4 
German Musician
Edward Albee - thumbnail
Edward Albee  38 
American Dramatist
Rockwell Kent - thumbnail
Rockwell Kent  4 
American Artist
Tennessee Williams - thumbnail
Tennessee Williams  169 
American Dramatist
Robert Penn Warren  57 
American Poet
Bertolt Brecht - thumbnail
Bertolt Brecht  142 
German Poet