Tom Stoppard Quotes

Obviously, you would give your life for your children, or give them the last biscuit on the plate. But to me, the trick in life is to take that sense of generosity between kin, make it apply to the extended family and to your neighbour, your village and beyond.

I don't act, I don't direct, I don't design.

Discovering the context

The quote implies that the individual does not engage in acting, directing, or design activities. It may indicate a focus on other pursuits or a clarification that they are not involved in those specific creative roles.

It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it's a painting, and if you can walk around it it's a sculpture.

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.

I think I give the impression of being a romantic, and I think inside I'm quite severe. But some might say they had the opposite impression of me.

My intention still is to write a play to commemorate, possibly rather skeptically, the 50th anniversary of the Russian revolution. I started it at the beginning of 1966, but confronted with the enormous importance and reality of that revolution, I absolutely boggle. I don't know what to do about it.

That I have the right to express myself freely at all times in all circumstances entails the idea that free speech is a 'basic human right' possessed by each individual, and, as such, trumps the interests of the society or group, including my neighbour.

When Auden said his poetry didn't save one Jew fro... -Tom Stoppard

When Auden said his poetry didn't save one Jew from the gas chamber, he'd said it all.

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This quote references a statement made by poet W.H. Auden, acknowledging that his poetry did not prevent the persecution and extermination of Jewish people during the Holocaust. It suggests that Auden recognized the limitations of poetry in the face of immense human suffering and that this statement encapsulates his acknowledgment of poetry's potential and its limitations.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Every exit is an entry somewhere else.

Discovering the context

This quote reflects the notion that when one door closes or a chapter ends, it creates an opportunity for new beginnings and fresh experiences. It suggests that endings are not final but rather openings to different paths and possibilities.

Chekhov was capable of casually tossing off deplorable comments in his letters, combined with a very modern anger against anti-Semitism.

I think age is a very high price to pay for maturi... -Tom Stoppard

I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to... -Tom Stoppard

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.

Discovering the context

This quote encourages cultivating a positive and healthy attitude and emphasizes its contagious nature. It suggests that rather than waiting for others to inspire or influence one's attitude, individuals should proactively adopt and embody a healthy mindset and become a source of positivity and inspiration for others.

All your life, you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye. And when something nudges it into outline, it is like being ambushed by a grotesque.

In January 1962, when I was the author of one and a half unperformed plays, I attended a student production of 'The Birthday Party' at the Victoria Rooms in Bristol. Just before it began, I realised that Harold Pinter was sitting in front of me.

Like almost everything else from the West, the Rom... -Tom Stoppard

Like almost everything else from the West, the Romantic Revolution arrived late in Russia.

I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.

If I had been asked to write 1,200 words for a newspaper tomorrow, on any subject, I would just do it rather than leave a white hole in the page. And I think it's a very healthy attitude to take to writing anything.

The House of Lords, an illusion to which I have never been able to subscribe - responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages.

I was delighted to not go to university. I couldn'... -Tom Stoppard

I was delighted to not go to university. I couldn't wait to be out of education.

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the cou... -Tom Stoppard

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting.

Tom Stoppard Quotes

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