Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Art should amplify reality and emotions rather than simply copying everyday life.
In plain terms
Art needs to be more dramatic and intense than real life.
What can you take from it?
Great art exaggerates reality to reveal deeper truths.

Where it applies

  • writing scripts
  • directing
  • analyzing theater

Putting it to work

  • intensifying scenes
  • avoiding realism
  • creative writing

Questions to consider

  • Does art need to mirror life?
  • Why do we prefer drama over reality?

Another view

Some art forms rely on minimalism rather than exaggeration.

More from Bette Davis

  1. Performance number 1,000, if I play it that long, will take place in a well-padded booby-hatch.

    Permalink to quote #9
  2. An affair now and then is good for a marriage. It adds spice, stops it from getting boring... I ought to know.

    Permalink to quote #11
  3. In this rat-race everybody's guilty till proved innocent!

    Permalink to quote #8

Related quotes

  1. The really great writers are people like Emily Bronte who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and unlimited imagination.

    James MichenerJames Michener quote #16
  2. The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.

    William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray quote #54
  3. There's a kind of silliness in the theater about what one contributes to a show. The producer obviously contributes the money... but must the actor contribute …

    Zero MostelZero Mostel quote #1