Samuel Beckett Quotes

Quotes about:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.

Samuel Beckett

Inspirational, Motivational, Encouraging

1983 Worst ward Ho.

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Don't look for meaning in the words. Listen to the silences.

Samuel Beckett

Silence, Looks

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Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' You won't believe what you can accomplish by attempting the impossible with the courage to repeatedly fail better.

Samuel Beckett

Believe, Trying, Matter

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The day you die is just like any other, only shorter.

Samuel Beckett

Dies

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Words are the clothes thoughts wear.

Samuel Beckett

Clothes

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The creation of the world did not take place once and for all time, but takes place every day.

Samuel Beckett

World, Creation, All Time

Samuel Beckett (1970). “The collected works of Samuel Beckett”

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You're on earth. There's no cure for that.

Samuel Beckett

Earth, Cures, Space Travel

Samuel Beckett (2012). “Endgame”, p.48, Faber & Faber

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Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order.

Samuel Beckett

Life, Dance, Thinking

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Nothing is more real than nothing.

Samuel Beckett

Real, Waiting For Godot

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.186, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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If there is one question I dread, to which I have never been able to invent a satisfactory reply, it is the question what am I doing.

Samuel Beckett

Able, Dread, Ifs

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.183, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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We are all born crazy. Some remain that way.

Samuel Beckett

Crazy, Way, Born

1955 Waiting for Godot, act 2.

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Perhaps that's what I feel, an outside and an inside and me in the middle, perhaps that's what I am, the thing that divides the world in two, on the one side the outside, on the other the inside, that can be as thin as foil, I'm neither one side nor the other, I'm in the middle, I'm the partition, I've two surfaces and no thickness, perhaps that's what I feel, myself vibrating, I'm the tympanum, on the one hand the mind, on the other the world, I don't belong to either.

Samuel Beckett

Self, Hands, Two

Samuel Beckett (1970). “The collected works of Samuel Beckett”

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For to know nothing is nothing, not to want to know anything likewise, but to be beyond knowing anything, to know you are beyond knowing anything, that is when peace enters in, to the soul of the incurious seeker.

Samuel Beckett

Knowing, Soul, Want

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.66, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.

Samuel Beckett

Artist, Tasks, Chaos

"Why music struck a chord with Beckett" by Sean Doran, www.theguardian.com. July 31, 2014.

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People are bloody ignorant apes.

Samuel Beckett

People, Ignorant, Apes

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.357, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Habit is the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit.

Samuel Beckett

Dog, Habit, Chains

Samuel Beckett (1931). “Proust”

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Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.

Samuel Beckett

Silence, Quiet, Language

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Against the charitable gesture there is no defence.

Samuel Beckett

Charity, Gestures, Charitable

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.24, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Any fool can turn a blind eye but who knows what the ostrich sees in the sand.

Samuel Beckett

Eye, Ostriches, Fool

Samuel Beckett (2012). “Murphy”, p.115, Faber & Faber

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With all this darkness round me I feel less alone.

Samuel Beckett

Darkness, Feels, Rounds

Samuel Beckett (2012). “Krapp's Last Tape and Other Shorter Plays”, p.24, Faber & Faber

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If you do not love me I shall not be loved If I do not love you I shall not love.

Samuel Beckett

Love, Love You, Ifs

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Collected Poems in English and French”, p.30, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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The end is in the beginning and yet you go on.

Samuel Beckett

Goes On, Ends, Endgame

Samuel Beckett (2012). “Endgame”, p.55, Faber & Faber

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My mistakes are my life.

Samuel Beckett

Mistake, My Mistakes

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.503, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better.

Samuel Beckett

Inspiring, Failure, Trying

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But what matter whether I was born or not, have lived or not, am dead or merely dying. I shall go on doing as I have always done, not knowing what it is I do, nor who I am, nor where I am, nor if I am.

Samuel Beckett

What Matters, Who I Am, Knowing

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.219, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Born: April 13, 1906
Died: December 22, 1989
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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