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)
Out of the dark and into the dark.
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. . . . Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world.
We are born astride of a grave, and a difficult birth at that. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps.
Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed.
Given the existence as uttered or unuttered, of the unutterable, how then to utter or unutter the unutterable?
I use words, there is no other way.
I'm not a writer. I've never written anything. I've just sat there and waited for it to come.
What do we do now?
The less I think, the more I am.
The old questions, the old answers, there's nothing else.
We are all in the mud, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Ah, the good old days. The good old days.
I could not make myself understood. I could not understand myself.
The earth is a mess, and man is a mess, and the whole thing is a mess.
Dance, you dog!
The light is there, but I can't see it.
I'm not interested in happiness. I'm interested in truth.
The end is there, somewhere, waiting for me.
The world is a cage, and we are all trapped in it.
We are waiting for Godot.
Contemporaries of Samuel Beckett
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Samuel Beckett (1906–1989).