“One night some short weeks ago, for the first time in her not always happy life, Marilyn Monroe’s soul sat down alone to a quiet supper from which it did not rise.”
— Clifford Odets
“Sex – the poor man’s polo.”
— Clifford Odets
“What do you want from me? Revenge? Sorry—we’re all out of revenge today!”
— Clifford Odets
“But I did it! That’s the thing—I did it! What will my father say when he hears I murdered a man? Lorna, I see what I did. I murdered myself, too! I’ve been running around in circles. Now I’m smashed!”
— Clifford Odets
“It seems to happen sudden—a fighter gets good. He gets easy and graceful. He learns how to save himself—no energy wasted… he slips and slides— he travels with the punch. . . . Oh, sure, I like the way you’re shaping up.”
— Clifford Odets
“You make me feel too human, Joe. All I want is peace and quiet, not love. I’m a tired old lady, Joe, and I don’t mind being what you call “half dead.” In fact it’s what I like. The twice I was in love I took an awful beating and I don’t want it again! I want you to stop it! Don’t devil me, Joe. I beg you, don’t devil me…”
— Clifford Odets
“You make me feel too human, Joe. All I want is peace and quiet, not love. I’m a tired old lady, Joe, and I don’t mind being what you call “half dead.” In fact it’s what I like. The twice I was in love I took an awful beating and I don’t want it again! I want you to stop it Don’t devil me, Joe. I beg you, don’t devil me…”
— Clifford Odets
“If they tell you that she died of sleeping pills you must know that she died of a wasting grief, of a slow bleeding at the soul.”
— Clifford Odets