The Sister Queens Quotes

“For most roles the playmaker has to hunt words to put in their mouths. With Falstaff I run alongside him, scratching what he says in my table-book.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“It came to me on the wing."

"As would a hawk ripping a pigeon.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“Most powerful men, and all critics, secretly hated poets because the poets' ability to deliver the muse's merchandise made them noble as gods. The dismal fools can't imagine what it's like to thank God at the end of an endless night for a short row of words that come vaguely close to what you had hoped to say the day before.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“What a word, Will! Vandalized! Did you just make that up?"

"It was you who spoke of Vandals, sir."

"Yes, I did! An excellent word.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“I am no man's tool.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“He imagined this was the sort of shadow battle Queen Elizabeth had fought her entire reign—starting as a young woman alone, besieged by foreign kings and English nobles who would marry her crown, always steps behind grizzled courtiers like Lord Burghley. No! Rarely steps behind. She was steps ahead or she would never have survived so long.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“Will had long ago learned not to interrupt when an admirer described his play as if the poet was hearing the plot for the first time.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens

“Will plowed through speeches that knew no end and scenes as slow as elephants. He plumbed verbal abysses for some hint of wit. He sought action, found oceans of incidents, and sought in vain information unknown to alehouse gossips. Flesh to bones? It had no vigor of bone, only flesh—a gross, quivering, unfinished creature entirely lacking in its skeleton.”
― Justin Scott, The Sister Queens