"No idea, and no situation, was ever strong enough to carry you through to its logical conclusion without a clear-cut premise," p. 6.

"You have time to find your premise in the mass of material later. The important thing is to find it," p. 11.

"A good premise represents the author," p. 16.

"Neither the premise nor any other part of the play has a separate life of its own. All must blend into an harmonious whole," p. 30.

"The dramatist needs not only characters who are willing to put up a fight for their convictions. He needs characters who have the strength, the stamina, to carry this fight to its logical conclusion," p. 80.

"If we know that a character embodies in himself not only his environment, but his heredity, his likes and dislikes, even the climate of the town where he was born, we do not find it hard to think...