Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilderwas an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the two plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth17 April 1897
CityMadison, WI
CountryUnited States of America
positive-thinking thinking bows
I not only bow to the inevitable; I am fortified by it.
adventure why-not life-is
Life is a fatal adventure. It can only have one end. So why not make it as far-ranging and free as possible.
unhappy-childhood atheism essentials
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.
decision awareness freedom-to-choose
The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.
self hatred needs
There is no need for me to curse you -the murderer survives the victim only to learn that it was himself that he longed to be rid of. Hatred is self-hatred.
night sky singing
Throughout the hours of the night, though there had been few to hear it, the whole sky had been loud with the singing of these constellations.
ideas cliffs return
The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs.
excellence difficult
All excellence is equally difficult.
passion love-is energy
Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value.
stars years play
We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being. -stage manager, in the play OUR TOWN
death gratitude grief
The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.
travel adventure home
When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.
time moving eye
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.
love heartbreak dog
Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less of love than the child that lost a dog yesterday.