Lillian Hellman
Overview
Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 causes. She was romantically involved for 30 years with mystery and crime writer Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...

 (and was the inspiration for his character Nora Charles
Nick and Nora Charles
Nick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man. The characters were later adapted for film in a series of movies between 1934 and 1947; for radio from 1941 to 1950; for television from 1957 through 1959; as a Broadway musical in 1991; and as a...

), and was also a long-time friend and literary executor
Literary executor
A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...

 of author Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....

.
Lillian Hellman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, into a Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 family.
Quotations

There are people who eat earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat.

The Little Foxes (1939)

Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.

The Little Foxes (1939)

For every man who lives without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.

The Watch on the Rhine (1941)

Lonely people, in talking to each other can make each other lonelier.

The Autumn Garden (1951)

I am prepared to waive the privilege against self-incrimination and to tell you everything you wish to know about my views or actions if your committee will agree to refrain from asking me to name other people. If the committee is unwilling to give me this assurance, I will be forced to plead the privilege of the fifth amendment at the hearing.

Letter to HUAC (May 19, 1952)

A man should be jailed for telling lies to the young.

Candide (1956) a comic operetta based upon the satire by Voltaire.

We will not think noble because we are not noble. We will not live in beautiful harmony because there is no such thing in this world, nor should there be. We promise only to do our best and to live out our lives. Dear God, that's all we can promise in truth.

Candide (1956)

Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did.

An Unfinished Woman (1969)

I do not believe in recovery. The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.

Scoundrel Time (1976)

 
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