16 Athol Fugard Quotes for You to Enjoy

Athol Fugard

South African Playwright

Born: Jun 11, 1932

Life Me South Africa Think Writing You

Related authors: Arthur Miller Graham Greene James M. Barrie Lynn Nottage Moliere Noel Coward Samuel Beckett W. Somerset Maugham

All of my life had been spent in the shadow of apartheid. And when South Africa went through its extraordinary change in 1994, it was like having spent a lifetime in a boxing ring with an opponent and suddenly finding yourself in that boxing ring with nobody else and realising you've to take the gloves off and get out, and reinvent yourself. Athol Fugard

Life You Change Yourself My Life South Africa Else Extraordinary Spent Out Ring Finding Finding Yourself Shadow Having Through Take Lifetime Had Nobody Nobody Else Like Boxing Gloves Opponent Been South Off Get Africa Realising Apartheid Suddenly Reinvent

You'll see that the strong, the affirmative, the positive voice in any of the plays I've written is that of a woman. My men are, well, not quite worthless, but they are certainly weak, and that reflects the reality I grew up with and what I think has in a sense shaped me. Athol Fugard

Positive Me You Woman Reality Strong Men Sense Think Weak Worthless See Voice Shaped Written Well Up Affirmative Reflects Any Quite Grew Certainly Plays

For you in the West to hear the phrase 'All men are created equal' is to draw a yawn. For us, it's a miracle. We're starting out at rock bottom, man. But South Africa does have soul. Athol Fugard

I can't think of a single one of my plays that does not represent a coincidence between an external and an internal event. Something outside of me, outside even my own life, something I read in a newspaper or witness on the street, something I see or hear, fascinates me. I see it for its dramatic potential. Athol Fugard

Life Me Witness Single Own Think Dramatic See Something My Own Potential Outside Between Read Does Hear Represent Newspaper Internal Fascinates Even Event Street External Plays Coincidence

Nobody can take what I love away from me. I would like to believe that love is the only energy I've ever used as a writer. I've never written out of anger, although anger has informed love. Athol Fugard

The toughest challenge I faced came right at the beginning of my career with 'Blood Knot,' which was trying to convince South African audiences that South African stories also had a place on the stage. Athol Fugard

In South Africa, success never presented the problems that it presents in New York. In New York, if you happen to be the flavor of the month, a lot of nonsense comes with it into your life. Athol Fugard

Life Success You Problems South Africa Month Never New Nonsense South Lot York New York Africa Happen Flavor Your Presented Presents

I think all of my writing life led up to the writing of 'The Train Driver' because it deals with my own inherited blindness and guilt and all of what being a white South African in South Africa during those apartheid years meant. Athol Fugard

Life Writing Guilt South Africa Own White Think Those My Own Driver Because Blindness Deals Years South Led South African Up Train Africa African Being Apartheid Meant Inherited

My essential identity is that of a writer. Athol Fugard

Writer Identity Essential

Creativity is very selfish. Scandalously so, in fact. Athol Fugard

Selfish Creativity Fact Very In Fact

For most of my writing life, I've refused to allow myself to believe that writing was a significant form of action. I always felt very uneasy about the fact that all I did was write in a situation as desperate as apartheid South Africa. Whether I was correct or not is a different issue. Athol Fugard

Life Myself Writing Desperate South Africa Situation Action Believe Correct Significant About Fact Write Allow Most Felt Always Issue South Very Uneasy Did Refused Africa Different Form Whether Apartheid

I've had one experience of writer's block in my life, and it was living hell. It was a terror for me. Athol Fugard

Life Me Experience My Life Hell Living Writer Had Terror Block

There are times in my 30 years in the theater that I have come perilously close to losing faith in the one form of action I have in this life. Athol Fugard

Life Faith Losing Action Come Years Close Times Form Theater

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