62 Quotes by Marsha Norman

on the whole the American theater, dominated by men, does not perceive women fighting for their lives as a central issue.

We are not afraid to look under the bed, or to wash the sheets; we know that life is messy. We know that somebody has to clean it up, and that only if it is cleaned up can we hope to start over, and get better.

Family is just accident.... They don't mean to get on your nerves. They don't even mean to be your family, they just are.

There are things that music can do that language could never do, that painting could never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn't have to explain it. It can simply celebrate it.

If someone wants to say ‘I love you’ in a straight play, they say it, and then it’s the other person’s turn to talk. But in a song, you can sing about it for another three minutes. The musical form has that unique opportunity to express at length what joy really feels like.

I’m just not having a very good time and I don’t have any reason to think it’ll get anything but worse. I’m tired. I’m hurt. I’m sad. I feel used.

Family is just accident, Jessie. It’s nothing personal, hon. They don’t mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are.

There are days when I think the National Endowment for the Arts should issue a quota system for the production of plays by women – especially when you realize women buy 70 percent of all theater tickets.

There are things that music can do that language could never do, that painting could never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn’t have to explain it. It can simply celebrate it.