Harold Pinter Quotes

62 quotes in 771 categories

• Nothing is more sterile or lamentable than the man content to live within himself.
• One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.
• I mean, if a thing works, if a thing is right, respect that, acknowledge it, respect it and hold to it.
• My second play, The Birthday Party, I wrote in 1958 - or 1957. It was totally destroyed by the critics of the day, who called…
• A short piece of work means as much to me as a long piece of work.
• All that happens is that the destruction of human beings - unless they're Americans - is called collateral damage.
• I also found being called Sir rather silly.
• I believe an international criminal court is very much to be desired.
• I could be a bit of a pain in the arse. Since I've come out of my cancer, I must say I intend to be…
• I found the offer of a knighthood something that I couldn't possibly accept. I found it to be somehow squalid, a knighthood. There's a relationship…
• I don't think there's been any writer like Samuel Beckett. He's unique. He was a most charming man and I used to send him my…
• I'll tell you what I really think about politicians. The other night I watched some politicians on television talking about Vietnam. I wanted very much…
• There is a movement to get an international criminal court in the world, voted for by hundreds of states-but with the noticeable absence of the…
• No matter how you look at it, all the emotions connected with love are not really immortal; like all other passions in life, they are…
• Occasionally it does hit me, the words on a page. And I still love doing that, as I have for the last 60 years.
• The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression.
• As a writer you're holding a dog. You let the dog run about. But you finally can pull him back. Finally, I'm in control. But…
• The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember
• It was difficult being a conscientious objector in the 1940's, but I felt I had to stick to my guns.
• It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.

Browse Harold Pinter Quotes by Category