Tom Stoppard

human own future

"It's only we humans who want to own the future, too"

― Tom Stoppard

opinion symptom

"Your opinions are your symptoms."

—Tom Stoppard

hope order withdraw style chaos

"Since we cannot hope for order, let us withdraw with style from the chaos."

—Tom Stoppard

happy happiness survive

"Be happy — if you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving?"

—Tom Stoppard

fantasy flow fact vacuum

"Fantasy flows in where fact leaves a vacuum."

—Tom Stoppard

believe mirror newspaper

"Never believe in mirrors or newspapers."

—Tom Stoppard

scary stupidity coherent

"There's something scary about stupidity made coherent."

—Tom Stoppard

skill imagination craftmanship useful modert art

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

—Tom Stoppard

childhood old age

"If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older."

—Tom Stoppard

healthy attitude contagious catch carrier

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

—Tom Stoppard

childred grow up purpose life

"Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last."

—Tom Stoppard

death pity alternative immortality

"Death is always a great pity of course but it's not as though the alternative were immortality."

—Tom Stoppard

best time alive everything believe wrong

“It’s the best possible time of being alive,

when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”

—Tom Stoppard

burn bridges progress memory

“We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.”

—Tom Stoppard

defect God humor direct hert everywhere

“It is a defect of God's humor that he directs our hearts everywhere but to those who have a right to them.”

—Tom Stoppard

exit entrance

“Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.”

—Tom Stoppard

moment beginning said no missed

“There must have been a moment, at the beginning, where we could have said — no. But somehow we missed it.”

—Tom Stoppard

life gamble terrible odds bet

“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds. If it were a bet you wouldn’t take it.”

—Tom Stoppard

language obscure obscurity style

“We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.”

—Tom Stoppard

body nothing me

“I am not my body. My body is nothing without me.”

—Tom Stoppard

democracy vote voting counting

“It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.”

—Tom Stoppard

old age price matyrity

“Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.”

—Tom Stoppard

words sacred respect right order nudge world

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

—Tom Stoppard

unpredictable predetermine unfold reality

“The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is.”

—Tom Stoppard

daily mask

“Give us this day our daily mask.”

—Tom Stoppard

uncertainty normal state

“Uncertainty is the normal state.”

—Tom Stoppard

media convention spiritualist

"The media. It sounds like a convention of spiritualists."

—Tom Stoppard

revolution trivial shift suffering self-indulgence change hand

"Revolution is a trivial shift in the emphasis of suffering; the capacity for self-indulgence changes hands."

—Tom Stoppard

eternity terrible thought end

"Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?"

—Tom Stoppard

war oil wells coal dardanelles suez capitalism glove off

"Wars are fought for oil wells and coaling stations; for control of the Dardanelles or the Suez Canal; for colonial pickings to buy cheap in and conquered markets to sell dear in. War is capitalism with the gloves off."

—Tom Stoppard

education university

"Personally I am in favour of education but a university is not the place for it."

—Tom Stoppard