J. B. Priestley Quotes

I started writing because it was hard to find acting jobs. I didn't like any monologues in auditions, so I started to write my own things. Since then, I have written a couple of shows. I was nominated for playwright of the year for a play I wrote called 'Potential Space.'

It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright.

The truth is you don't like the theater except the times when you're in a room by yourself putting the play on paper.

When you write a play, you make a set of assumptions -- that you have something to say, that you know how to say it, that its worth saying, and that maybe someone will come along for the ride.

I believe the way to write a good play is to convince yourself it is easy to do, then go ahead and do it with ease.

I always loved theater and acting in plays and directing, writing little plays and directing friends in plays.

For a creative person there's just as much pleasure in writing an eight-line poem as there is in writing a blockbuster play ... of the old '50s type.

It's the function of a playwright to write. Some playwrights write a large number of plays, some write a small number.

I started writing plays, but the fact that plays don't last forever was too much for me to bear.

With song titles, I try to keep a healthy sense of humor while saying something at the same time.

I'm still learning so much with every play I write. So I wrestle with word choice, rhythm in final drafts. I think you have to be ruthless.

You can't learn to play the piano without playing the piano, you can't learn to write without writing, and, in many ways, you can't learn to think without thinking. Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.

To write a poem is like trying to catch a lizard without its tail falling off.

If you put on an Oscar Wilde [play], it will interest those who are interested in Oscar Wilde. But it won't interest anybody else, because they won't get that wit.

I'm an actress, primarily. I love to write poetry. I've been writing poetry since I was 12 years old.

I never write a play with an eye to film.

It's funny how you can struggle with one piece and write a better one in a minute. When things come easy, it means it's good.

You write a hit play the same way you write a flop.

When you write ,it's like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring then unity.

I fell into writing plays by accident. But the reason I write plays is that it's the only thing I'm any good at.

In the world of words the imagination is one of the forces of nature.

Acting's entertainment. It's not brain surgery.

What I've wanted to do my whole life is just act. When I was younger, I loved to entertain people. I always used to make up dance routines, do little plays. I love to perform, basically. Music, as well, is a passion of mine. I've been singing my whole life. I probably annoy people because I sing all the time on the streets. And I play the drums and I play the guitar. I've been writing music since I was 13.

At its most basic we are discussing a learned skill (writing), but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our expectations? We are talking about tools and carpentry, about words and style... but as we move along, you'd do well to remember that we are also talking about magic.

You know, you should start to be in plays and things like that. Write some scripts. If you're an artist and you truly don't believe what you're spittin' then you need to really seriously be an actor then.