David Ives Quotes

#1. I've certainly thought a lot more about things like tyranny and patriotism and violence. I think I found some kind of clarity - definitely a thicker understanding.

Phil Klay

#2. Learning to write for the theatre is learning to be a human being, because the theatre by its very nature makes you deal with other human beings.

David Ives

#3. Many in the American military have learned the fundamental dilemma of modern warfare: More money and better weapons don't mean that you win.

Gabriel Kolko

#4. We say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God.

Joseph Smith Jr.

#5. I've taught both screenwriting and playwriting, and playwriting is both much harder and much more rewarding. One can teach people how to tell a story in cinematic ways, but theater is a much more elusive craft.

David Ives

#6. Autobiography is an unrivaled vehicle for telling the truth about other people.

Philip Guedalla

#7. I think everything should be in verse. 'The New York Times' should be in verse.

David Ives

#8. With my plays, when the lights go down, at least the audience isn't thinking, 'Oh, God, two more hours of this.'

David Ives

#9. Shukhov had figured it all out. If he didn't sign he'd be shot. If he signed he'd still get a chance to live. So he signed.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

#10. Necessarily, I'm always involved in casting, as any playwright is, because the whole process of putting on a play is a collaborative, organic effort on the part of a bunch of people trying to think alike.

David Ives

#11. Writing a play, you start with less, so more is demanded of you. It's as if you have to not only write a symphony, but invent the instruments as well.

David Ives

#12. To be truly 'soigne,' a man should have 80 suits.

Jean Patou

#13. Well into adulthood, writing has never gotten easier. It still only ever begins badly, and there are no guarantees that this is not the day when the jig is finally up.

David Rakoff

#14. Plays are always about intense relationships, whether they're intense love relationships or family relationships or existential relationships.

David Ives

#15. If I close my eyes, I can see it tainting my blood, forcing my heart to pump faster and faster, until I feel dizzy from the beautiful poison in the air.

C.M. Stunich

#16. All reviews should carry a Surgeon General's warning. The good ones turn your head, the bad ones break your heart.

David Ives

#17. His hands, shedding actual tears. The silky cold dirt and sharp pebbles of the road

Janet Fitch

#18. If you don't believe your salmon is wild, ask it to fetch your newspaper and see what happens.

Scott Adams

#19. In real life humans didn't slay giants, because it was impossible. It would be like killing an apartment building with your bare hands.

Lev Grossman

#20. Oh Lana Turner we love you get up

Frank O'Hara

#21. Ultimately one has to pity these poor souls who know every secret about writing, directing, designing, producing, and acting but are stuck in those miserable day jobs writing reviews. Will somebody help them, please?

David Ives

#22. Verse comedy is interesting to me because of the challenge of writing in rhymed couplets, which is not a form that's usually amenable to English, yet to me it gives great possibility for comedy.

David Ives

#23. I admire pop songs that are perfect at three minutes.

David Ives

#24. Despite the amazing diversity we're blessed with in this country, schools are still in large part segregated because of economic disparity. Sports are one of the few areas where kids are really given the opportunity to interact with those of different races and religions.

Steve Kerr

#25. Lists are anti-democratic, discriminatory, elitist, and sometimes the print is too small.

David Ives

#26. It's what we wrestle with every single day. The intersection of comfort, danger, and safety. The balancing act between vulnerability and shame. The opportunity (or the risk) to do art. The willingness to take responsibility for caring enough to make a difference and to have a point of view.

Seth Godin

#27. What kind of word is 'methodal'?" David asked. "A buzzword," Ashok answered, this time himself. "Methodal. Sounds like a drug." "That's what buzzwords are. Tranquilizers." "Thought suppressants, you mean.

Carolyn Ives Gilman