I define the American dream as the ability to imagine a way that you want your life to turn out, and have a reasonable hope that you can achieve that.

— David Henry Hwang

I'm happy. Which often looks like crazy.

— David Henry Hwang

Judge: But why would that make it possible for you to fool Monsieur Hallmark? Please--get to the point. Song: One, because when he finally met his fantasy woman, he wanted more than anything to believe that she was, in fact, a woman. And second, I am an Oriental. And being an Oriental, I could never be completely a man.

— David Henry Hwang

My first plays were amazingly bad, but I had a teacher who thought I had promise, and he kept working with me. I finally went to a summer workshop before my senior year with people like Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Forces who encouraged me to write from my subconscious, and suddenly all this material about culture clash came out.

— David Henry Hwang

Only a man knows how a woman is supposed to act

— David Henry Hwang

There is something unique in American iconography about this notion of the pursuit of happiness.

— David Henry Hwang

Time flies when you’re being stupid.

— David Henry Hwang