Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.

I never 'say' anything in my work. I invent a world. Let others decide what is being 'said'.

We are suffocated by writers who want to enlighten us with their truths. For me, the theatre is beautiful because it is a secret, and secrets seduce us, we all want to share secrets.

I don't like sympathetic characters.

I'm not interested in observed reality.

I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.

When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behavior. Sometimes this is dangerous, but it should be. As I say often, theatre is a dark place and we should keep the light out of it.

The artist who makes himself accessible is self-destructive.

I have plenty of political views and plenty of social and personal prejudices. I do not, however, value them.

A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal.

I'm not interested in entertainment.

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

What's the use in prolonging life if you don't do anything with it?

The greater evil who is in-When both in wayward paths are straying? The poor sinner for the painOr he who pays for the sin?

Cultures should not be like water that dissolves them evenly, but like colours that stand out distinctly.

We define organic chemistry as the chemistry of carbon compounds.

Because I hold an Israeli passport, I have a share in all the wrongs that are done to the Palestinians. . . . I want to be able to say that I did all I could to prevent the bloodshed.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.

Kiss me, Hardy!’ Weren’t those Nelson’s last words at the Battle of Trafalgar? Don’t cry. We’re still alive and we make a sensational team.

Without privacy there was no point in being an individual.

It is possible to live twenty-four hours a day in a state of love. Every movement, every glance, every thought, and every word can be infused with love.