Arthur Miller Quotes

The tragic element of a character is always intriguing I think.

I consider tragedy the highest form of art.

Tragedy is the oldest form of theatre.

As comedy presents the vital rhythm of self-preservation, tragedy exhibits that of self-consummation.

The core of literature is the idea of tragedy... You don't really learn much from the good things that happen to you.

Every time one can write a self-deluded song, you are way ahead of the game, way ahead. Self-delusion is the basis of nearly all the great scenes in all the great plays, from 'Oedipus' to 'Hamlet.'

The Greeks said very, very extreme things in their tragedies.

Tragedy is a literary concept.

The subject of a good tragedy must not be realistic.

Shakespeare's idea of the tragic fact is larger than this idea and goes beyond it; but it includes it, and it is worth while to observe the identity of the two in a certain point which is often ignored.

All art at a certain level is entertainment. We go to a tragedy by Sophocles to be entertained.

A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end.

Tragedy is a great storytelling form. It worked extremely well for Shakespeare. It worked extremely well for Jim Cameron with 'Titanic.'

A Shakespearean tragedy as so far considered may be called a story of exceptional calamity leading to the death of a man in high estate. But it is clearly much more than this, and we have now to regard it from another side.

I'm a tragedienne in some way. I think quite epically. I like epic landscapes and grand emotions.

Frequently my life has been likened to a Greek tragedy, and the actress in me cannot deny that comparison.

But our comedies never endured long without a tragedy.

Tragedy is the highest form of art.

Tragedy is an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear and pity. Such an effect is best produced when the events come on us by surprise; and the effect is heightened when, at the same time, they follow as cause and effect. The tragic wonder will then be great than if they happened of themselves or by accident; for even coincidences are most striking when they have an air of design.

The English Writers of Tragedy are possessed with a Notion, that when they represent a virtuous or innocent Person in Distress, they ought not to leave him till they have delivered him out of his Troubles, or made him triumph over his Enemies.

The king died and then the queen died is a story. The king died, and then queen died of grief is a plot.

Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy.

The tragedy of Eliot Spitzer is almost Greek: Ascendant son of wealth and privilege dedicates his life to social justice, warns of the corruption lurking among us, and falls victim to his inner demons at the very moment of vindication.

What then is tragedy? In the Elizabethan period it was assumed that a play ending in death was a tragedy, but in recent years we have come to understand that to live on is sometimes far more tragic than death.

Avoiding humiliation is the core of tragedy and comedy.