Thornton Wilder Quotes

Quotes about:

• All that we know about those we have loved and lost is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality. What is essential does not die but clarifies. The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.

  Thornton Wilder

  Gratitude, Grief, Reality

  53 Copy quote

• We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

  Thornton Wilder

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  Thornton Wilder (1958). “The Cabala ; The Woman of Andros”

  106 Copy quote

• Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.

  Thornton Wilder

  Funny, Ninety Nine, People

  1954 The Matchmaker, act 1.

  17 Copy quote

• Without your wounds where would your power be? It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In Love’s service, only wounded soldiers can serve. Physician, draw back.

  Thornton Wilder

  Children, Heart, Angel

  15 Copy quote

• But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

  Thornton Wilder

  Memories, Land, Bridges

  Thornton Wilder (1956). “A Thornton Wilder Trio: The Cabala, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Woman of Andros”

  55 Copy quote

• If you write to impress it will always be bad, but if you write to express it will be good

  Thornton Wilder

  Writing, Be Good, Impress

  46 Copy quote

• My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.

  Thornton Wilder

  Happiness, Laughter, Acceptance

  1942 The Skin of Our Teeth, act 1.

  76 Copy quote

• I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them--it was that promise.

  Thornton Wilder

  Marriage, Children, Growing Up

  60 Copy quote

• Art is not only the desire to tell one's secret; it is the desire to tell it and hide it at the same time.

  Thornton Wilder

  Art, Secret, Desire

  Thornton Wilder (2009). “The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Other Novels, 1926-1948”

  43 Copy quote

• The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.

  Thornton Wilder

  Death, Gratitude, Grief

  65 Copy quote

• There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

  Thornton Wilder

  Love, Life, Fun

  Thornton Wilder (1962). “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”, New York : Limited Editions Club

  38 Copy quote

• Life is a fatal adventure. It can only have one end. So why not make it as far-ranging and free as possible.

  Thornton Wilder

  Adventure, Why Not, Life Is

  21 Copy quote

• The future is the most expensive luxury in the world.

  Thornton Wilder

  Luxury, World, Expensive

  Thornton Wilder (1966). “Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker”

  6 Copy quote

• We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars . . . everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There’s something way down deep that’s eternal about every human being. -stage manager, in the play OUR TOWN

  Thornton Wilder

  Stars, Years, Play

  Thornton Wilder (1957). “Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker”

  62 Copy quote

• Every good thing in the world stands on the razor-edge of danger.

  Thornton Wilder

  World, Razors, Good Things

  Thornton Wilder (1961). “Twayne's United States Authors Series”

  26 Copy quote

• When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.

  Thornton Wilder

  Travel, Home, Adventure

  20 Copy quote

• Providence has nothing good or high in store for one who does not resolutely aim at something high or good. A purpose is the eternal condition of success.

  Thornton Wilder

  Inspirational, Success, Doe

  13 Copy quote

• Favors cease to be favors when there are conditions attached to them.

  Thornton Wilder

  Intelligence, Favors, Conditions

  Thornton Wilder (2009). “The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Other Novels, 1926-1948”

  5 Copy quote

• A purpose is the eternal condition of success.

  Thornton Wilder

  Purpose, Providence, Eternal

  10 Copy quote

• Enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.

  Thornton Wilder

  Life, Ice Cream, Dessert

  1942 The Skin of Our Teeth, act 1.

  30 Copy quote

• Every person who has ever lived has lived an unbroken succession of unique occasions.

  Thornton Wilder

  Unique, Unbroken, Succession

  Thornton Wilder (1966). “Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker”

  11 Copy quote

• It is very necessary to have markers of beauty left in a world seemingly bent on making the most evil ugliness.

  Thornton Wilder

  Beauty, Evil, World

  15 Copy quote

• Choose the least important day in your life. It will be important enough.

  Thornton Wilder

  Important, Important Days, Enough

  Thornton Wilder (1968). “Our town: a play in three acts”

  12 Copy quote

• We live in what is, but we find a thousand ways not to face it. Great theater strengthens our faculty to face it.

  Thornton Wilder

  Life, Way, Faces

  8 Copy quote

• There is no need for me to curse you -the murderer survives the victim only to learn that it was himself that he longed to be rid of. Hatred is self-hatred.

  Thornton Wilder

  Self, Hatred, Needs

  12 Copy quote

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