Arthur Laurents Quotes

The realities of the world seldom measure up to the sublime designs of human imagination.

Dreams that are planned are called frustration.

I'm in my dream world.

America to me is so varied and exciting. I always feel nostalgia for the place I'm not in, and then I get there and find myself in a traffic jam going into the Lincoln Tunnel, and I think, 'God, why was I romanticizing this part of the country?' I think it has to do with the romantic, unrealistic temperament.

I have noticed that when things happen in one's imaginings, they never happen in one's life.

Reality seems valueless by comparison with the dreams of fevered imaginations; reality is therefore abandoned.

My dreams are all follies.

I probably revisit in my work the moment at which I realised that dreams couldn't be reality.

Castles in the air - they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build too.

No tribute is laid on castles in the air.

What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring.

You can't always get what you want.

Expectation improperly indulged in must end in disappointment.

It doesn't matter what you're chasing, when you get there you're gonna be like, "Oh, is this all? It kind of sucks."

Sometimes it's just enough for me to have the idea. I don't need to see it through to the end. When it actually happens, I'm always disappointed because it's never like what I imagined in my head. When an idea becomes a reality, then it's a job. I'd rather just think about it.

Here is Heimel's Law: Anything you fantasize about won't come true. So just cut it out.

Dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.

Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand.

He who awaits much can expect little.

One mustn't ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness.

Nothing seems to come up to your expectations. But nothing I had heard about Hollywood was enough.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

To fulfil a fantasy is the quickest way to destroy it.

When I was younger - it might be a romantic idea - I always thought I might go crazy.

Like other men, I have sought honours and preferment, and often have obtained them beyond my wishes or hopes. Yet never have I found in them that content which I had figured beforehand in my mind. A strong reason, if we well consider it, why we should disencumber ourselves of vain desires.