August Wilson Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“From Romare Bearden I learned that the fullness and richness of everyday life can be rendered without compromise or sentimentality.”

“I don't look at our society today too much. My focus is still in the past, and part of the reason is because what I do - the wellspring of art, or what I do - l get from the blues. So I listen to the music of a particular period that I'm working on, and I think inside the music is clues to what is happening with the people.”

“I started writing - I began my career at the age of 20, on April 1st, 1965, when... My sister was going to Fordham University at the time, and she wrote me and asked me if I'd write her a paper. She needed a paper on two poets. And I picked Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg, and I wrote her paper, and she sent me $20. $20 in 1965 was a lot of money.”

“I'm a De Niro fan. I went eleven years without seeing a movie; the last one before that, February 1980, was De Niro and Scorsese in 'Raging Bull,' and when I went back, it was 'Cape Fear,' with De Niro and Scorsese. I picked up right where I left off at.”

“In 1977, I wrote a series of poems about a character, Black Bart, a former cattle rustler-turned-alchemist. A good friend, Claude Purdy, who is a stage director, suggested I turn the poems into a play.”