In interviews, the great American playwright Edward Albee could be as quotable as his characters. Here are 10 of his best observations
I failed as a poet, a novelist, a short-story writer and as an essayist, but I was determined to be a writer. So I began writing plays. in a Guardian interview in 2010
We all insist hope? that we havent written our best works yet, and we all harbour deep, almost religious faith, in our most dismissed or despised efforts. in a Guardian interview in 2007
I find that when my plays are going well, they seem to resemble pieces of music in a Paris Review interview in 1966
Most critics cant tell me if anything is good. in a Guardian interview in 2010
A playwright or any creative artist is his work. The biography can be distorting, or its just gravy. The work is the essence of the person. in a Telegraph interview in 2011
All plays, if theyre any good, are constructed as correctives. Thats the job of the writer. Holding that mirror up to people. Were not merely decorative, pleasant and safe. in a Guardian interview in 2004
I suspect that every play I write is part of one large play. in a Guardian interview in 2007
The only two things you can write about are life and death. in a Guardian interview in 2001
People dont know anything about themselves. They shouldnt write about themselves. in a 2013 interview with the Believer
Men dont like the way I write about them because I puncture the male fantasy of what they think they ought to be. I show them as they really are and this upsets a lot of them. Women think Im right on target. from Conversations with Edward Albee
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/sep/17/edward-albee-quotes-life-and-death