I know that I do not know — and that admission is a kind of strength. Pretended certainty is brittle. Honest uncertainty can learn.

Lovers in my plays ruin themselves by guessing wrongly — jealousy wearing certainty's mask. In affection, ask before you invent a story about the other person. The tragedy is often the assumption.

They say I trained with pebbles in my mouth and spoke against the roar of the sea. Whether every tale is literal matters less than the method: make practice harder than the stage, and the stage feels kinder.

The first speeches shake. The tenth shake less. The hundredth still may shake — and still carry truth. Do not wait to feel brave. Brave is what you call the feeling after you have begun.

A pleasing manner is delightful — and insufficient. Watch how someone treats those with little power to repay them. Character shows in the margins of the scene.

A refusal need not be cruel to be clear. Respect includes accepting someone else's no without negotiation theater. And offering your own without false guilt.