Zitate von Tennessee Williams

„Wer ein schlechtes Gedächtnis hat, dem bleibt keine andere Wahl als die Wahrheit zu sagen.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„Was ist gerade? Eine Linie kann gerade sein oder eine Straße, aber das menschliche Herz, oh nein, es ist gekrümmt wie eine Straße durch Berge.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„Wenn ich meine Dämonen los würde, würde ich meine Engel verlieren.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„Ich sage dir, dieses Europa ist nichts anderes als eine einzige große Auktion. Das ist alles, was man darüber sagen kann, nichts als ein großer Inventurausverkauf.“

—  Tennessee Williams, Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach

Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach, 2. Akt
Original englisch: "That Europe is nothin' on earth but a great big auction, that's all it is, that bunch of old worn-out places, it's just a big fire-sale." - Big Daddy in: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Act 2

„Man kann in einem großen Land etwas anpflanzen, das wichtiger ist als Baumwolle - Toleranz!“

—  Tennessee Williams, Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach

Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach, 2. Akt
Original englisch: "One thing you can grow on a big place more important than cotton! - is tolerance! - Big Daddy in: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Act 2

„Aus dem hoffnungslos Vergänglichen das Ewige zu ergreifen ist der große Zaubertrick der menschlichen Existenz.“

—  Tennessee Williams, Die tätowierte Rose

Original englisch: "Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence." - The Timeless World of Play http://books.google.com/books?id=Rp3TJUCT9soC&q=%22Snatching+the+eternal+out+of+the+desperately+fleeting+is+the+great+magic+trick+of+human+existence%22&pg=PA6#v=onepage, an introductory essay to The Rose Tattoo (1951)

„Es kommt eine Zeit, da schaust du in den Spiegel und erkennst, dass das, was du siehst, alles ist, was du jemals sein wirst. Und dann akzeptierst du es. Oder du bringst dich um. Oder du hörst auf in Spiegel zu schauen.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.“

—  Tennessee Williams

Quelle: Conversations with Tennessee Williams

„I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.“

—  Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Quelle: A Streetcar Named Desire

„A Prayer for the Wild at Heart That Are Kept in Cages“

—  Tennessee Williams, Stairs to the Roof

This is the subtitle of the play
Quelle: Stairs to the Roof (1941)

„The future is called "perhaps," which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to allow that to scare you.“

—  Tennessee Williams, Orpheus Descending

Quelle: "The Past, the Present and the Perhaps," http://books.google.com/books?id=mTRaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22The+future+is+called+perhaps+which+is+the+only+possible+thing+to+call+the+future+And+the+important+thing+is+not+to+allow+that+to+scare+you%22&pg=PA7#v=onepage introduction to Orpheus Descending (1957)

„A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„Caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„I don't believe anyone ever suspects how completely unsure I am of my work and myself and what tortures of self-doubting the doubt of others has always given me.“

—  Tennessee Williams

„People go to the movies instead of moving!“

—  Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

Tom, Scene Six
Quelle: The Glass Menagerie (1944)
Kontext: Yes, movies! Look at them — All of those glamorous people — having adventures — hogging it all, gobbling the whole thing up! You know what happens? People go to the movies instead of moving! Hollywood characters are supposed to have all the adventures for everybody in America, while everybody in America sits in a dark room and watches them have them! Yes, until there's a war. That's when adventure becomes available to the masses! Everyone's dish, not only Gable's! Then the people in the dark room come out of the dark room to have some adventures themselves — Goody, goody! — It's our turn now, to go to the south Sea Island — to make a safari — to be exotic, far-off! — But I'm not patient. I don't want to wait till then. I'm tired of the movies and I am about to move!

„I've got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live?“

—  Tennessee Williams, Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach

Quelle: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

„In memory everything seems to happen to music.“

—  Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

Tom (As Narrator Scene One)
Quelle: The Glass Menagerie (1944)

„All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be.“

—  Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

Amanda, Scene Six
Quelle: The Glass Menagerie (1944)