Tracy Letts Quotes

I think if a character appeals to you, there are certain parts of yourself will come to the fore and other parts that will play down.

To be a character who feels a deep emotion, one must go into the memory's vault and mix in a sad memory from one's own life.

I'm so deeply interested in what it feels like to be other people that I get to operate under the illusion when I'm writing fiction that I'm not really revealing that much about myself. But, of course, I am, and I know that I am. And yet there's this sort of membrane that I get to work behind as I write my fiction, and I love it.

To recognize yourself in a character onscreen, and to connect with them, you gotta recognize their flaws; they gotta feel like a real person.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place. Music keeps the heart porous in many ways.

For me, growing up, I felt like there was something fatally and tragically flawed in my nature and that it was my duty to try to avoid falling for that vice.

It's a great thing when you feel that you recognize yourself, deeply and movingly, in a work of literature.

I think my job is hopefully to connect with people emotionally and to feel less alone or understand things in a certain way.

People only hate what they see in themselves.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that arrogance is one of my flaws.

What is called an acute knowledge of human nature is mostly nothing but the observer's own weaknesses reflected back from others.

I'm interested in the human more than I'm interested in building suspense.

I remember playing John Wayne Gacy, serial killer, very sick, neurotic, screwed-up guy. You know what? There's a part of me there, too, and you explore that.

As a fan, I connect with realness. Whether it's strong or vulnerable, if it's real, I can connect with it.

When you are playing someone who is dealing with issues on a really personal level, if you don't bring your own issues into the equation, it's not going to feel really personal to the people watching it.

I am sorry that as leader of the community, San Antonio and my name go together. But I guess human beings just aren't made of plastic and wiring and metal. They are made of flesh and blood and feelings.

Like most people, what I find irritating in others are my own faults.

I'm a human being. I've got opinions, I'm not always right, I'm not always on time, I don't always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure.

A lot of the albums that I've been really into are like, 'Oh man. That doesn't make him look like a perfect human. That actually shows his warts and his scars, and for some reason, I'm super drawn to him now because he shared that or she shared that with me.'

If you operate under the premise that everybody already has some experiences that could be sources of empathy for them, I wonder if there's some process of coaxing people into tapping into that knowledge.

It is possibly not very helpful to our inner life to ponder a great deal on how the external world is reflected in our soul. By doing so, we do not get beyond a shadowy picture of the world of mental images in ourselves.

We see the worst versions of ourselves - things we did or could have done - in the characters who inspire us.

I think people will discover themselves in 'Ankahee.'

The more specific you are about a very general feeling of loneliness is actually how you connect with people.