Altogether too much damn nonsense has been written since the beginning of time about the dissipation of artists. Why, there are fifty times more real drunkards among the Bohemians who only play at art, and probably more than that among the people who never think about art at all. The artist drinks, when he drinks at all, for relaxation, forgetfulness, excitement, for any purpose except his art…You've got to have all your critical and creative faculties about you when you're working. I never try to write a line when I'm not strictly on the wagon. I don't think anything worth reading was ever written by anyone who was drunk or even half-drunk when he wrote it. This is not morality, it's plain physiology.
Quoted in Eugene O'Neill: The Man and His Plays (1944) by BARRETT H CLARK
Use this link to visit eOneill.com, an electronic archive designed to celebrate the life and preserve the work of playwright EUGENE GLADSTONE O'NEILL (1888–1953), the writer who almost singlehandedly invented modern North American theater.
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