I'm not interested in entertainment.

I never 'say' anything in my work. I invent a world. Let others decide what is being 'said'.

We are suffocated by writers who want to enlighten us with their truths. For me, the theatre is beautiful because it is a secret, and secrets seduce us, we all want to share secrets.

Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.

I don't like sympathetic characters.

I'm not interested in observed reality.

I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.

When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behavior. Sometimes this is dangerous, but it should be. As I say often, theatre is a dark place and we should keep the light out of it.

The artist who makes himself accessible is self-destructive.

I have plenty of political views and plenty of social and personal prejudices. I do not, however, value them.

A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal.

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

There is love in holding and there is love in letting go. Elizabeth Berg, The Year of Pleasures

She was worried these thoughts would crush her if she let them come, but they didn't. You didn't know how heavy they were until you tried to lift them. You didn't know how strong you were.

Death is nothing to us: for that which is dissolved is without sensation; and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us.

There's nothing better than not knowing what's going to happen until you put the pieces together.

It's one of the greatest comforts of working in ministry: the unspoken certitude that your spouse did not marry you for your money.

Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.

I have great hope for tomorrow. My hope lies in three things-truth, youth, and love.

Thought is a garment and the soul's a bride That cannot in that trash and tinsel hide: Hatred of God may bring the soul to God.

Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.