Edward Albee Quotes

"Martha: Fix the kids a drink, George. What would you like to drink, kid– kid.
Nick: Honey? what would you like?
Honey: Ohhhh, I don't know, dear, a little brandy maybe. "Never mix, never worry!"
George: Brandy? Just brandy? Simple, simple…
[George turns to Nick.]
George: What about you, em… em… em…
Nick: Bourbon on the rocks, if you don't mind.
George: Mind? I don't mind. I don't think I mind. Martha? Rubbing alcohol for you?
Martha: Sure! "Never mix, never worry!

I have indicated, quite precisely ... by means of commas, periods, semi-colons, dashes and dots ... the speech rhythms. Please observe them carefully, for they were not thrown in, like herbs on a salad, to be mixed about.

I swear if you existed I'd divorce you.

American critics are like American universities. They both have dull and half-dead faculties.

Awww, 'tis the refuge we take when the unreality of the world weighs too heavy on our tiny heads.

It was like being lost: very young again, with the dark, and lost. There was no . . . thing . . . to be . . . frightened of, but . . .
We were frightened . . . And there was nothing.

we must have that put in Latin — We do what we can — on

People can't have everything they want. You should know that; it's a rule; people can have some of the things they want, but they can't have everything.

You're in a straight line, buddy-boy, and it doesn't lead anywhere.....except maybe the grave.

What people really want in the theater is fantasy involvement and not reality involvement.

George: Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Martha: I am, George. I am.

MARTIN (Serious) Am I too young for Alzheimer’s? STEVIE Probably. Isn’t it nice to be too young for something?

I think we should all live on the precipe of life, as fully and as dangerously as possible. Everyone should make the assumption that they're going through life only once. Tomorrow we die. Why not take chances, extend yourself? How awful it is when a person comes to the end of life full of regret.

All of my plays are about people missing the boat, closing down too young, coming to the end of their lives with regret at things not done, as opposed to things done. I find most people spend too much time living as if they’re never going to die.

Read the great stuff, but read the stuff that isn't so great, too. Great stuff is very discouraging. If you read only Beckett and Chekhov, you'll go away and only deliver telegrams for Western Union.