Blanche Quotes

• I don't want realism. I want magic!

  Tennessee Williams

  Magic, Desire, Want

  A Streetcar Named Desire sc. 9 (1947)

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• I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.

  Tennessee Williams

  Light, Rude, Naked

  Tennessee Williams (2004). “A Streetcar Named Desire”, p.60, New Directions Publishing

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• And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that's stronger than this-kitchen-candle.

  Tennessee Williams

  Light, Kitchen, Stronger

  Tennessee Williams (2004). “A Streetcar Named Desire”, p.115, New Directions Publishing

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• I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman's charm is fifty per cent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth. - Blanche Scene II

  Tennessee Williams

  Important, Fifty, Telling The Truth

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• They told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!

  Tennessee Williams

  Block, Desire, Fields

  A Streetcar Named Desire sc. 1 (1947)

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• A woman's charm is fifty percent illusion.

  Tennessee Williams

  Women, Fifty, Illusion

  Tennessee Williams (1947). “A streetcar named Desire”, Signet Book

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• And funerals are pretty compared to deaths.

  Tennessee Williams

  Funeral

  Tennessee Williams (2004). “A Streetcar Named Desire”, p.21, New Directions Publishing

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• Blanche: No, I have the misfortune of being an English instructor. I attempt to instill a bunch of bobby-soxers and drugstore Romeos with a reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe!

  Tennessee Williams

  Hawthorne, Bunch, Reverence

  Tennessee Williams (1953). “A Streetcar Named Desire: Play in Three Acts”, p.39, Dramatists Play Service Inc

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• Blanche is written with a terrible authority, the authority that comes from artistic necessity when the writer is compelled to write by his demon, rather than by his agent or promoter.

  Paul Bailey

  Writing, Agents, Artistic

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• The skin of the coward changes color all the time, he can't get a grip on himself, he can't sit still, he squats and rocks, shifting his weight from foot to foot, his heart racing, pounding inside the fellow's ribs, his teeth chattering. He dreads some grisly death. But the skin of a brave soldier never blanches. He's all control. Tense but no great fear.

  Homer

  Fear, Heart, Rocks

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• No one wants to abandon the Israelis. But I think the perception is, and I think it's probably an accurate perception, that the tail is leading the dog - that we are giving the Israelis carte blanche ability to exercise whatever they want to do in their area.

  Michael Scheuer

  Dog, Exercise, Thinking

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• Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable. --Blanche Dubois

  Tennessee Williams

  Unforgivable, Cruelty, Dubois

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• I think that if a real princess was lost in this modern world and she could be whatever she wanted, she would be a musician,' Blanche said slowly. 'A violinist, or a harpist. That would be the only place where she could find solace for her lost kingdom.

  Regina Doman

  Real, Princess, Thinking

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• If [Ho Chi Minh] had had carte blanche over his movement, would the results of the war have been different? That is difficult to say. In some cases - as in 1945 and 1946, he appeared to overestimate the possibility that the United States might decide to recognize his government and the independence of the DRV (although to be fair, from the outset he had warned that Washington might eventually decide to align with the French because of the Cold War).

  William J. Duiker

  War, Government, Independence

  Source: www.sonshi.com

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• Evil isn't beautiful on its own. You know?' 'Well, good people are sometimes ugly-' Blanche said at last. 'I don't know about that. Not really,' Bear shook his head. 'If the good's there, and you look for it, you'll see it in some way.' 'I think Bear is right,' Rose said decidedly. 'Fairy tales teach you that. No one who's really good ever stays ugly. It's always a disguise.

  Regina Doman

  Beautiful, Thinking, People

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• Stella: And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby.. [she smiles to herself] Blanche: I guess that is what is meant by being in love.

  Tennessee Williams

  Baby, Being In Love, Lap

  Tennessee Williams (2004). “A Streetcar Named Desire”, p.19, New Directions Publishing

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• And when children begin to use their reason, fathers and mothers should take great pains to fill their hearts with the fear of God. This the good Queen Blanche did most earnestly by St. Louis, her son: witness her oft-repeated words, "My son, I would sooner see you die than guilty of a mortal sin;" words which sank so deeply into the saintly monarch's heart, that he himself said there was no day on which they did not recur to his mind, and strengthen him in treading God's ways.

  Saint Francis de Sales

  Mother, Queens, Pain

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• The third factor is the natural predisposition of bureaucracies, both governmental and private, to exploit secrecy to whatever degree they are licensed to do so, and in this administration they're given virtually carte blanche.

  Ted Gup

  Administration, Degrees, Natural

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• It's fascinating. It's also exhilarating when you see people making the exact same choices that you've made. It kind of validates what you've decided to do. I saw a wonderful production of Jessica Lange doing Streetcar with Alec Baldwin. It was gorgeous. It's a measure of what a great classic that is, that our Cate Blanchett also did an absolute amazing Blanche in Sydney, as well as in New York.

  Jacki Weaver

  New York, People, Choices

  "Jacki Weaver, America’s Sweetheart". Interview with Emma Brown, www.interviewmagazine.com. October 2, 2014.

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• When you wrote it didn't matter if hysteria sometimes came up in your face and voice (unless, of course, you let it find its way into your "literary voice") because writing was done in merciful privacy and silence. Even if you were partly out of your mind it might turn out to be all right: you could try for control even harder than Blanche Dubois was said to have tried, and with luck you could still bring off a sense of order and sanity on the page for the reader. Reading, after all, was a thing done in privacy and silence too.

  Richard Yates

  Reading, Writing, Order

  Richard Yates (2010). “Young Hearts Crying”, p.184, Random House

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• A miracle worker who can do more with less, pacify rival groups, endure chronic second guessing, tolerate low levels of support, process large volumes of paper, and work double shifts. He or she will have carte blanche to innovate, but cannot spend much money, replace any personnel, or upset any constituency.

  Michael Fullan

  Support, Miracle, Upset

  Michael Fullan (2009). “The Challenge of Change: Start School Improvement Now!”, p.77, Corwin Press

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• I decided to read something I normally hate: a cosy mystery. You know one of those mysteries where everything is tidily wrapped up at the end and everyone lives happily ever after? An Agatha Christie kind of mystery. They are so not my thing. But then someone was raving about Barbara Neely's Blanche White books and they sounded interesting.

  Justine Larbalestier

  Hate, Book, White

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• Gracie: "Don't give up, Blanche. Women don't do that. Look at Betsy Ross, Martha Washington-they didn't give up. Look at Nina Jones." Blanche Morton: "Nina Jones?" Gracie: "I've never heard of her either, because she gave up."

  Gracie Allen

  Determination, Giving Up, Don't Give Up

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• As far as commercials were concerned, I did very few, and I did them only when they gave me carte blanche to them the way that I wanted to. And I did them as an exercise, because I, who do very long films, never thought I would be able to tell a story in 30 or 40 seconds - you come across a whole new system and manner of approaching a subject.

  Sergio Leone

  Exercise, Long, Would Be

  Source: www.americansuburbx.com

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• The primary factor that enables our government to peddle economic snake oil is the dollar's unique role as the world's reserve currency, and our creditors' willingness to preserve its status. By buying up dollars and loaning them back to us through Treasury debt, productive countries give American politicians cart blanche to play Santa Claus.

  Peter Schiff

  Country, Unique, Play

  7 Copy quote