"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
"The dead don't stay interested in us living people for very long. Gradually, gradually, they let go hold of the earth . . . and the ambitions they had . . . and the things they suffered . . . and the people they loved. They get weaned away from the earth - that's the way I put it - weaned away."
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Source: Our Town act 3 (1938). Ellipses in the original.
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More quotes by Thornton Wilder
"I would love to be the poet laureate of Coney Island."
"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate."
"There is nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head."
"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"
"If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a secret agent."