“A theatre, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance.”

“I think it can be tremendously refreshing if a creator of literature has something on his mind other than the history of literature so far. Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak.”

“Literature should not disappear up its own asshole, so to speak.”

“Literature cannot develop between the categories "permitted"—"not permitted"—"this you can and that you can't." Literature that is not the air of its contemporary society, that dares not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers, such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a facade. Such literature loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as waste paper instead of being read.-Letter to the Fourth National Congress of Soviet Writers”

“Theatre is the most perfect artistic form of coercion.”

“It is in literature that the concrete outlook of humanity receives its expression.”