Samuel Beckett
Pioneer of Theatre of the Absurd
Most quoted
"The sun shines, the moon shines, the stars shine, the earth turns, the sky is blue, the sea is green, the birds sing, the flowers bloom, the trees grow, the grass grows, the animals live, the people live, the children play, the old people die, the young people live, the rich people live, the poor people live, the good people live, the bad people live, the happy people live, the sad people live, the healthy people live, the sick people live, the beautiful people live, the ugly people live, the intelligent people live, the stupid people live, the wise people live, the foolish people live, the strong people live, the weak people live, the brave people live, the cowardly people live, the honest people live, the dishonest people live, the kind people live, the cruel people live, the generous people live, the selfish people live, the loving people live, the hating people live, the peaceful people live, the violent people live, the free people live, the enslaved people live, the living people live, the dead people live, the living people die, the dead people live."
— from Malone Dies
"The light is on my face. It is on my hands. It is on my clothes. It is on my feet. It is on my shoes. It is on my socks. It is on my skin. It is on my hair. It is on my eyes. It is on my mouth. It is on my nose. It is on my ears. It is on my neck. It is on my chest. It is on my stomach. It is on my legs. It is on my arms. It is on my back. It is on my buttocks. It is on my genitals. It is on my whole body. It is on my whole being. It is on my whole life. It is on my whole death. It is on my whole nothing."
— from Happy Days, 1961
"Given the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua of a white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension who from the heights of divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown are plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire is the only fire that can warm us."
— from Waiting for Godot
All quotes by Samuel Beckett (273)
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in a way that is not ours, to make up for it. But it's always the same thing. Always the same thing.
I can't go on. I'll go on.
We are born astride of a grave, and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps.
To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.
The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh.
Don't wait for me, I'm not coming.
Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed.
You're on earth, there's no cure for that!
All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
The end is in the beginning and yet you go on.
I use words because I have nothing to say.
What do we do now? What do we do now? What do we do now? What do we do now?
The sun shines, having no alternative, on the nothing new.
There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.
I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know what I'm doing.
The more I think of it the more I realize there is nothing so satisfying as to be nothing.
You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.
We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.
Contemporaries of Samuel Beckett
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Samuel Beckett (1906–1989).