Tennessee Williams: Acknowledge The Journey

Photograph by William E. Sauro

Interview with James Grissom

1982

You will be told that it is unhealthy to remember at all times how quickly life passes: You will be told that to always be aware of how quickly we lose people and faculties and interest will drive you insane, will have you always aware of your limitations and your mortality. But I have come to the conclusion--at this point in my life--that life itself drives most of us insane, and that it reminds us all every single day of our limitations and our mortality. Better, I think, to be aware and grateful and hungry for experience, and to acknowledge the journey, as if at a window of a very expensive, very fast train hurtling through the experience that just happens to be your life. There is--as with all things--a style that is necessary for going insane, for living, for dying.