“I began my talk by saying that I had not written my plays for purposes of discussion. At once, I felt a ripple of panic run through the hall. I suddenly realised why. To everyone present, discussion was the whole point of drama. That was why the faculty had been endowed — that was why all those buildings had been put up! I had undermined the entire reason for their existence.”

— Tom Stoppard

"Tom Stoppard," profile by Kenneth Tynan, The New Yorker (1977-12-19).
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Tom Stoppard 116

British playwright 1937

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