Holding Wonder

Soothing stories have been plentiful in all ages.... To survive, a story must arouse wonder, wonder in both the senses in which we now employ the word: astonishment at the extent of man's capability of good and evil, and speculation as to the sources of that capability.

—Thornton Wilder, in an introduction to Jacob's Dream, by Richard Beer-Hofmann, as quoted in John Guare, foreword to Three Plays by Thornton Wilder.