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