BookQuoters
After the Fall After the Fall Arthur Miller Get the book
Report a mistake
← Classics

After the Fall

by Arthur Miller · 1964

As Howard Taubman outlines the play: "At the outset Quentin emerges, moves forward and seats himself on the edge of the stage and begins to talk, like a man confiding in a friend. In the background are key figures in his… more

5 quotes ★ 3.69 (3,336) Classics

Quotes from the Book

MAGGIE, in pain: That’s what I mean; I’m a joke to most people. QUENTIN: No, it’s that you say what you mean, Maggie. You don’t seem to be upholding anything, you’re not—ashamed of what you are. MAGGIE: W-what do you mean, of what I am? … But you didn’t, did you? He turns to her in agony. Laugh at me? QUENTIN: No. He suddenly stands and cries out to Listener. Fraud! From the first five minutes! …Because! I should have agreed she was a joke, a beautiful piece, trying to take herself seriously! Why did I lie to her, play this cheap benefactor, this— Listens, and now unwillingly he turns back to her. MAGGIE: Like when you told me to fix where my dress was torn? You wanted me to be— proud of myself. Didn’t you?
8
To admit what you see endangers principles.
6
Yes, the day the world ended and nobody was innocent again. God, how swiftly it all fell down!
4
I dreamed I had a child, and even in the dream I saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept onto my lap again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever in it was my own, perhaps I could sleep. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible…but I kissed it. I think one must finally take one’s life in one’s arms.
2
God’s power is love without limit. But when a man dares reach for that... he is only reaching for the power.
1

Watch on YouTube

About Arthur Miller

We have collected 72 quotes from 4 books by Arthur Miller on BookQuoters.

More about the author →

More by Arthur Miller

About the book

As Howard Taubman outlines the play: "At the outset Quentin emerges, moves forward and seats himself on the edge of the stage and begins to talk, like a man confiding in a friend. In the background are key figures in his life, and they move in and out of his narrative. The narration shades into scenes, little and big. They are revelations and illuminations. They remind Quentin of an awkward young girl whom he made proud of herself. They bring the tortured image of his mother's death and another of his mother's fury with his father, who lost all in trying to save a floundering business. They crisscross through his relations with a number of women the first wife who wanted to be a separate person, the second who drove him into a separateness and a possible third who knew, as a German raised in a furnace of concentration camps, that 'survival can be hard to bear.' These intertwining images

Book details

First published
1964
Goodreads rating
3.69 (3k ratings)
After the Fall After the Fall Arthur Miller Get the book
1964·★ 3.69 (3k)
Report a mistake

Keep reading