Priestly on Priestly

On Political Philosophy…
  "A man is a member of a community and the fact that he is a member of a community immensely enlarges his stature and increases his opportunities...But as well as being a member of a community a man is also a person, a unique individual, and it is in fact the business of the community not simply to glorify itself but to produce better persons, to enrich its individual sphere… "
(Thoughts in the Wilderness 1957)

On War and Society…
  "My own personal view, for what it's worth, is that we must stop thinking in terms of property and power and begin thinking in terms of community and creation. …We want a world that offers people not the dubious pleasures of power, but the maximum opportunities for creation. And, even already, in the middle of this war [World War Two], I can see that world shaping itself.
  " …Property is that old-fashioned way of thinking of a country as a thing, and a collection of things on that thing, all owned by certain people and constituting property, instead of thinking of that country as the home of a living society, and considering the welfare of that society, the community itself as the first test."
(Taken from his weekly wartime broadcast, Postscripts, 1940)

On Art and the Artist…
  "…Time after time I was condemned for writing plays that either had too much social content or were too experimental.

 Not long ago, I heard the most successful of our young manager-directors, on television, declaring that old British dramatists could be ignored because their work had not sufficient social content and was never experimental. Ah well!" (1943)
 "A writer must decide for himself the range and depth of his commitment. He should not be compelled either to write or not to write about public affairs. I for one would have felt frustrated and angry if I could not have said anything about unemployment in the early 30s, the Nazi menace from 1935 onwards, the hope of a better britain emerging from the war, the mixture of wickedness and imbecility in nuclear defense. Living in another age, I might never have written a line about political concerns. … Perhaps, because of my background and upbringing, a twenty-first birthday lost in the Flanders mud, and diffidence and dubiety for ever lurking behind the bouncy self-confidence, I could not be entirely serious about anything except the well-being of our society itself." (1945)
  "I am a whole-hearted believer in spreading the arts around. A lot of people won't want them, but everywhere there will be some people, all ages, 'naturals' I like to call them, to whom the discovery of these arts will be like finding water in the desert. And if this spreading around costs millions, then let it cost millions. It is public money well spent, which is more than can be said about a great deal of public money." (1977)

J.B. Priestley died on 14 August 1984 at the age of 89.