Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellmanwas an American dramatist and screenwriter known for her success as a playwright on Broadway, as well as her left-wing sympathies and political activism. She famously was blacklisted by the House Committee on Un-American Activitiesat the height of the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–52. Although she continued to work on Broadway in the 1950s, her blacklisting by the American film industry caused a precipitous decline in her income during which time she had to work outside her chosen...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth20 June 1905
CountryUnited States of America
Lillian Hellman quotes about
Decisions, particularly important ones, have always made me sleepy, perhaps because I know that I will have to make them by instinct, and thinking things out is only what other people tell me I should do.
Belief is a moral act for which the believer is to be held responsible.
It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute.
God forgives those who invent what they need.
Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much, you feel so guilty.
What a word is truth. Slippery, tricky, unreliable. I tried in these books to tell the truth.
I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group.
Writers are interesting people, but often mean and petty.
I'm too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself.
No one can argue any longer about the rights of women. It's like arguing about earthquakes.
Lonely. I always thought loneliness meant alone, without people. It means something else.
Decision by democratic majority vote is a fine form of government, but it's a stinking way to create.
The writer's intention hasn't anything to do with what he achieves. The intent to earn money or the intent to be famous or the intent to be great doesn't matter in the end. Just what comes out.
Nobody knows what you want except you. And nobody will be as sorry as you if you don't get it. Wanting some other way to live is proof enough of deserving it. Having it is hard work, but not having it is sheer hell.