And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

SAM SHEPARD

There's some hidden, deeply rooted thing in the Anglo male American that has to do with inferiority, that has to do with not being a man, and always, continually having to act out some idea of manhood that is invariably violent. This sense of failure runs very deep. Maybe it has to do with the frontier being systematically taken away, with the guilt of having gotten this country by wiping out a native race of people, with the whole Protestant work ethic. I can't put my finger on it, but it's the source of a lot of intrigue for me.

SAM SHEPARD

I don’t know what the American Dream is. I do know it doesn’t work. Not only doesn’t it work, the myth of the American Dream has created extraordinary havoc, and it’s going to be our demise

This notion that not only were we given this land by God somehow, but that we’re entitled to do whatever we wanted with it, regardless of the consequences, and reap all the fortunes out of the land, much to the detriment of everyone else

This rampant puritanical class of European colonialism behind the whole thing is land hungry Europeans wanting to dominate. The move westward was promoted by advertising with words like “Free Land,” “Manifest Destiny." 

We always prefer the fantasy over the reality.

SAM SHEPARD

I don’t know what the American Dream is. I do know it doesn’t work. Not only doesn’t it work, the myth of the American Dream has created extraordinary havoc, and it’s going to be our demise

This notion that not only were we given this land by God somehow, but that we’re entitled to do whatever we wanted with it, regardless of the consequences, and reap all the fortunes out of the land, much to the detriment of everyone else

This rampant puritanical class of European colonialism behind the whole thing is land hungry Europeans wanting to dominate. The move westward was promoted by advertising with words like “Free Land,” “Manifest Destiny." 

We always prefer the fantasy over the reality.