the power of radio is not that it speaks to millions, but that it speaks intimately and privately to each one of those millions.
Neither should the theater in our country be regarded as a luxury. It is a necessity because in order to make democracy work the people must increasingly participate; they can't participate unless they understand; and the theater is one of the great mediums of understanding.
The theater, when it is potent enough to deserve its ancestry, is always dangerous; that is why it is instinctively feared by people who do not want change, but only preservation of the status quo.
[To actors on opening night:] You have had good equipment to work with. You've had a theater with everything you needed, and you are involved with the play; but all the way through you have been handicapped. One essential has been denied you. Tonight the audience is there; now they are sitting out front; you have everything you need.
Art in America has always been regarded as a luxury.
Democracy ... is never won but always to be won.
Youth lives in an atmosphere of energy waiting to make contact.
