Wallace Shawn

“The world is a terrifying place. I mean, I'm not the first person to say this. It's a terrifying place, and I'm very, very frightened of it.”

“Inconceivable!”

“Most of us are living in a world that is not in any way what we would have chosen. We are surrounded by things we didn't want.”

“Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart.”

“A play is a dream that we are dreaming together. The actors are the dreamers, and the audience is the dreamer, and we are all dreaming the same dream.”

“The life of a playwright is tough. I'd been my whole life dreaming of the day when I could write a play and get it produced, and then I have a play produced, and I am not respected.”

“I enjoy feeling that I am part of a group of people who are trying to tell a story.”

“If you are born into a family with a lot of money, you are not interesting, and you are not a hero.”

“Am I going crazy, or did the world just go crazy?”

“You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only slightly less well known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!'”

“I think that the new ‘idea’ is that we’re all on this ship together, and the ship is sinking.”

“Acting is a brutal profession. It's really, really, really hard. It's also, I have to say, wonderful.”