Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinsonwas an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960. In his obituary, the Times called him "the theater's most influential reviewer of his time."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth28 November 1894
CityMelrose, MA
CountryUnited States of America
flaming knows song stand tower
Ethel Waters, the flaming tower of dusky regality, who knows how to make a song stand on tiptoe.
drama public vivid
As thought it is a contribution to public knowledge. As drama it is vivid and bold.
american-critic anybody fatal fixed growth life narrow point since view
The most fatal illusion is the narrow point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one.
democracy less war
After each war there is a little less democracy to save.
nature self bird
Although birds coexist with us on this eroded planet, they live independently of us with a self-sufficiency that is almost a rebuke. In the world of birds a symposium on the purpose of life would be inconceivable. They do not need it. We are not that self-reliant. We are the ones who have lost our way.
people degenerates spirit
Materialism is decadent and degenerate only if the spirit of the nation has withered and if individual people are so unimaginative that they wallow in it.
differences people plot
We tolerate differences of opinion in people who are familiar to us. But differences of opinion in people we do not know sound like heresy or plots.
lonely writing men
Nothing a man writes can please him as profoundly as something he does with his back, shoulders and hands. For writing is an artificial activity. It is a lonely and private substitute for conversation.
play joy towns
There is no joy so great as that of reporting that a good play has come to town.
new-york rain assuming
New Yorkers are inclined to assume it will never rain, and certainly not on New Yorkers.
guilt daily-life shame
Everyone in daily life carries such a heavy mixed burden on his own conscience that he is reluctant to penalize those who have been caught.
judging facts life-is
Life is seldom as unendurable as, to judge by the facts, it logically ought to be.
love evil balance
We cheerfully assume that in some mystic way love conquers all, that good outweighs evil in the just balances of the universe and at the 11th hour something gloriously triumphant will prevent the worst before it happens.
art real illumination
Real art is illumination, it adds stature to life.