American straightforwardness is almost as disarming as Americans invariably think it is.

[T]here is only one large circle that we march in, around and around, each of us with our own little picture -- in front of us -- our own little mirage that we think is the future.

I think that the human race does command its own destiny and that that destiny can eventually embrace the stars.

I happen to believe that most people -- and this is where I differ from many of my contemporaries, or at least as they express themselves -- I think that virtually every human being is dramatically interesting. Not only is he dramatically interesting, he is a creature of stature whoever he is ...

I believe that one of the most sound ideas in dramatic writing is that in order to create the universal, you must pay very great attention to the specific. Universality, I think, emerges from truthful identity of what is.