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August Wilson Quotes
I don't look at our society today too much. My focus is still in the past, and part of the reason is because what I do - the wellspring of art, or what I do - l get from the blues. So I listen to the music of a particular period that I'm working on, and I think inside the music is clues to what is happening with the people.
~ August Wilson
Art
Because
Blues
Clues
Focus
Get
Happening
I Think
In The Past
Inside
Listen
Look
Much
Music
Our
Part
Particular
Past
People
Period
Reason
Society
Still
Think
Today
Too
Too Much
Working
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I don't write for a particular audience.
~ August Wilson
Audience
Particular
Write
design
copy
I don't write for a particular audience. I work as an artist, and I think the audience of one, which is the self, and I have to satisfy myself as an artist. So I always say that I write for the same people that Picasso painted for. I think he painted for himself.
~ August Wilson
Always
Artist
Audience
He
Himself
I Think
I Write
Myself
Painted
Particular
People
Picasso
Same
Satisfy
Say
Self
Think
Which
Work
Write
design
copy
I dropped out of school when I was 15 years old. I dropped out because I guess I wasn't getting anything out of my investment in the school.
~ August Wilson
Anything
Because
Dropped
Getting
Guess
Investment
Old
Out
School
Years
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I had always been fascinated with Napoleon because he was a self-made emperor; Victor Hugo said, 'Napoleon's will to power,' and it was the title of my paper. And I submitted it to my teacher, and he didn't think I had written it. And he wanted me to explain it to him.
~ August Wilson
Always
Because
Been
Emperor
Explain
Fascinated
Had
He
Him
Hugo
Me
Napoleon
Paper
Power
Said
Self-Made
Submitted
Teacher
Think
Title
Victor
Wanted
Will
Written
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I haven't read Ibsen, Shaw, Shakespeare - except 'The Merchant of Venice' in ninth grade. I'm not familiar with 'Death of a Salesman.' I haven't read Tennessee Williams.
~ August Wilson
Death
Except
Familiar
Grade
Merchant
Ninth
Read
Salesman
Shakespeare
Tennessee
Tennessee Williams
Venice
Williams
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I just write stuff down and pile it up, and when I get enough stuff, I spread it out and look at it and figure out how to use it.
~ August Wilson
Down
Enough
Figure
Get
How
Just
Look
Out
Pile
Spread
Stuff
Up
Use
Write
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I once wrote a short story called 'The Best Blues Singer in the World,' and it went like this: 'The streets that Balboa walked were his own private ocean, and Balboa was drowning.' End of story. That says it all. Nothing else to say. I've been rewriting that same story over and over again. All my plays are rewriting that same story.
~ August Wilson
Again
Been
Best
Blues
Drowning
Else
End
His
Like
Nothing
Ocean
Once
Over
Own
Plays
Private
Rewriting
Same
Same Story
Say
Says
Short
Singer
Story
Streets
Walked
Were
World
Wrote
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I think all in all, one thing a lot of plays seem to be saying is that we need to, as black Americans, to make a connection with our past in order to determine the kind of future we're going to have. In other words, we simply need to know who we are in relation to our historical presence in America.
~ August Wilson
America
American
Black
Black Americans
Connection
Determine
Future
Going
Historical
I Think
In Other Words
Kind
Know
Lot
Make
Need
One Thing
Order
Other
Our
Past
Plays
Presence
Relation
Saying
Seem
Simply
Thing
Think
Who
Words
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I think it was the ability of the theater to communicate ideas and extol virtues that drew me to it. And also, I was, and remain, fascinated by the idea of an audience as a community of people who gather willingly to bear witness.
~ August Wilson
Ability
Also
Audience
Bear
Communicate
Community
Drew
Fascinated
Gather
I Think
Idea
Ideas
Me
People
Remain
Theater
Think
Virtues
Who
Willingly
Witness
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I think of dying every day... At a certain age, you should be prepared to go at any time.
~ August Wilson
Age
Any
Be Prepared
Certain
Certain Age
Day
Dying
Every
Every Day
Go
I Think
Prepared
Should
Think
Time
You
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I think the blues is the best literature that we as blacks have created since we've been here. I call it our 'sacred book.' What I've attempted to do is to mine that field, to mine those cultural ideas and attitudes and give them to my characters.
~ August Wilson
Attempted
Attitudes
Been
Best
Blacks
Blues
Book
Call
Characters
Created
Cultural
Field
Give
Here
I Think
Ideas
Literature
Mine
Our
Sacred
Since
Them
Think
Those
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I work as an artist, and I think the audience of one, which is the self, and I have to satisfy myself as an artist. So I always say that I write for the same people that Picasso painted for. I think he painted for himself.
~ August Wilson
Always
Artist
Audience
He
Himself
I Think
I Write
Myself
Painted
People
Picasso
Same
Satisfy
Say
Self
Think
Which
Work
Write
design
copy
I write for myself, and my goal is bringing that world and that experience of black Americans to life on the stage and giving it a space there.
~ August Wilson
American
Black
Black Americans
Bringing
Experience
Giving
Goal
I Write
Life
Myself
Space
Stage
World
Write
design
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If you want to participate in life, you have to deny your identity.
~ August Wilson
Deny
Identity
Life
Participate
Want
You
Your
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I'm a De Niro fan. I went eleven years without seeing a movie; the last one before that, February 1980, was De Niro and Scorsese in 'Raging Bull,' and when I went back, it was 'Cape Fear,' with De Niro and Scorsese. I picked up right where I left off at.
~ August Wilson
Back
Before
Bull
Cape
De Niro
Eleven
Fan
Fear
February
Last
Left
Movie
Niro
Off
Picked
Raging
Right
Scorsese
Seeing
Up
Where
Without
Years
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In 1977, I wrote a series of poems about a character, Black Bart, a former cattle rustler-turned-alchemist. A good friend, Claude Purdy, who is a stage director, suggested I turn the poems into a play.
~ August Wilson
About
Black
Cattle
Character
Director
Former
Friend
Good
Good Friend
Play
Poems
Series
Stage
Suggested
Turn
Who
Wrote
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In 1980 I sent a play, 'Jitney,' to the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, won a Jerome Fellowship, and found myself sitting in a room with sixteen playwrights. I remember looking around and thinking that since I was sitting there, I must be a playwright, too.
~ August Wilson
Around
Center
Fellowship
Found
I Remember
Looking
Must
Myself
Play
Playwright
Playwrights
Remember
Room
Sent
Since
Sitting
Sixteen
Thinking
Too
Won
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It was early on in 1965 when I wrote some of my first poems. I sent a poem to 'Harper's' magazine because they paid a dollar a line. I had an eighteen-line poem, and just as I was putting it into the envelope, I stopped and decided to make it a thirty-six-line poem. It seemed like the poem came back the next day: no letter, nothing.
~ August Wilson
Back
Because
Came
Day
Decided
Dollar
Early
Envelope
First
Had
Just
Letter
Like
Line
Magazine
Make
Next
Nothing
Paid
Poem
Poems
Putting
Seemed
Sent
Some
Stopped
Wrote
design
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I've never seen 'Seinfeld', never seen 'The Cosby Show'; I just don't watch it. I saw half of 'Oprah' one time. I'd rather read.
~ August Wilson
Cosby
Half
Just
Never
One Time
Oprah
Rather
Read
Saw
Seen
Seinfeld
Show
Time
Watch
design
copy
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AuthorName
August Wilson
Profession
Playwright
BirthDate
27 April, 1945
DeathDate
02 October, 2005
Country
United States
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