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Meaning
This reads as a paradox about vocation, where finding the right work does not make life calmer. It suggests that writing gives purpose and gratitude, but also keeps the mind restless, alert, and perhaps unsettled. The line lands for someone whose work feels necessary yet never soothing, when the very thing that gives meaning also keeps opening inner noise.
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Originally said in English.
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About Sam Shepard
American playwright, actor and author
Sam Shepard was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, author and musician. He is known for a career that spanned half a century and for writing 58 plays, along with books of short stories, essays and memoirs. His work earned major recognition, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award and a record 10 Obie Awards. He was also nominated for two Tony Awards, an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Laurence Olivier Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, and he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.
More from Sam Shepard (127 quotes) →More quotes by Sam Shepard
- “What I like most about Bolano is his courage.”Sam Shepard
- “I keep my horses out in the open, but when I was working the ranches, I had to clean the stalls. It was a hor…”Sam Shepard
- “You don't have to do anything in the movies. You just sit there. Well, that's not entirely true. You do less.”Sam Shepard
- “I've always found it embarrassing to receive awards.”Sam Shepard
More Gratitude quotes
- “When I think about any of the missteps in my life that I've made, all of which I'm grateful for, it's because…”Kerry Washington
- “When you've lost a loved one, you realise how grateful you are for any help in those moments, and any scheme…”Stephen Mangan
- “The industry is a difficult place to be in. It is not at all rosy. There are judgements being made. I don't l…”Aditi Rao Hydari
Writing: more sayings
- “'Purple Plumeria' I dithered over for months and then wrote the whole thing between the beginning of July and…”Lauren Willig
- “I have always believed in the principle that immediate survival is more important than long-term survival.”Jack McClelland
- “I'm not negative, pessimistic, angry, antisocial or schizophrenic. I'm a writer, and entitled to all that wit…”Daniel Marques
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Books by Sam Shepard
Great dream of heaven
2002
Cruising Paradise
1996
Seven Plays (Buried Child / Curse of the Starving Class / The Tooth of Crime / La Turista / Tongues / Savage Love / True West)
1984
Rolling Thunder logbook
1977
Four two-act plays
1968