Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot, absurdist theater

Modern influential 93 sayings

Sayings by Samuel Beckett

The best way to get to know yourself is to live alone.

N/A — Undetermined, attributed
Controversial Unverifiable

The dead are all listening. They don't care.

N/A — Undetermined, attributed
Controversial Unverifiable

I am what I am, and I am not what I am not.

N/A — Undetermined, attributed
Controversial Unverifiable

The sun, having no alternative, shines on the nothing new.

1961 — Play 'Happy Days'
Controversial Unverifiable

The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

N/A — Undetermined, attributed. A common sentiment, but not a direct quote from his known works.
Controversial Unverifiable

Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!

1953 — Play 'Waiting for Godot'
Controversial Unverifiable

The more you are, the less you are. The less you are, the more you are.

N/A — Undetermined, attributed
Controversial Unverifiable

We are born astride of a grave, and a hellish light it is.

1953 — From 'Waiting for Godot'
Humorous Unverifiable

Don't look for meaning in everything. And don't look for conclusions. Conclusions are a disease.

1956 — Interview with Israel Shenker, New York Times
Humorous Unverifiable

Dance till the stars come down from the rafters; dance, dance, dance till you drop.

1938 — From 'Murphy'
Humorous Unverifiable

Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance!

1953 — From 'Waiting for Godot'
Humorous Unverifiable

I use words because I have nothing else.

1949 — From 'Three Dialogues with Georges Duthuit'
Humorous Unverifiable

What do we do now? We wait. Yes, but while waiting. What do we do?

1953 — From 'Waiting for Godot'
Humorous Unverifiable

The greatest poverty is not to live in a cell, but to be without hope.

Unknown — Attributed, source unclear, but aligns with his themes
Humorous Unverifiable

I hate the human race. I hate them all.

1958 — From 'Krapp's Last Tape'
Humorous Unverifiable

Old men are always thinking of the past and the future, but never of the present.

1953 — From 'Waiting for Godot'
Humorous Unverifiable

The best possible way to avoid the problem is to solve it.

Unknown — Attributed, but somewhat generic advice, confidence low.
Humorous Unverifiable

I am what I am, or I am not.

1953 — From 'The Unnamable'
Humorous Unverifiable

You have no idea what it's like to be me. Nobody has any idea what it's like to be me.

1958 — From 'Krapp's Last Tape'
Humorous Unverifiable

All I know is what the words say.

1956 — Interview with Israel Shenker, New York Times
Humorous Unverifiable