Life According to Thornton Wilder (a collection of quotes)


By Samra Khawaja
Graphic that reads: Life According to Thornton Wilder
Happy 119th birthday to Big Read novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder! Wilder was a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his work The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Ides of March, and Our Town. His work often explores the natural world and endurance of humanity. To celebrate his life and contributions to American drama and literature, we’ve complied a collection of quotes that give us insight about the world according to Mr. Wilder.
Graphic that reads: “We all know more than we know we know.” ― Thornton Wilder, The Eighth Day: A Novel
Graphic that reads: “There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love.”
Graphic that reads: “The past and the future are always present within us.” ― Thornton Wilder, Theophilus North
“Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.”
Graphic that reads: “My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate — that's my philosophy.”
Graphic that reads: “Many plays — certainly mine — are like blank checks. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them.”
Graphic that reads: “Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value.”
Graphic that reads: “Imprisonment of the body is bitter; imprisonment of the mind is worse.” ― Thornton Wilder, The Ides of March
Graphic that reads: “If you write to impress it will always be bad, but if you write to express it will be good.”
Graphic that reads: “Hope is a projection of the imagination; hope is an energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility to combat them.”

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