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.

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

Samuel Beckett

Silence, Looks

132 Copy quote
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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Dance first. Think later. It's the natural order.

Samuel Beckett

Life, Dance, Thinking

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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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Words are the clothes thoughts wear.

Samuel Beckett

Clothes

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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 sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.

Samuel Beckett

Alternatives, Sun, Beckett

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.71, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

51 Copy quote
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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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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What are we doing here, that is the question.

Samuel Beckett

Life, Waiting For Godot, Godot

Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett”, p.71, Faber & Faber

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That's the mistake I made, one of the mistakes, to have wanted a story for myself, whereas life alone is enough.

Samuel Beckett

Mistake, Stories, Enough

Samuel Beckett (1967). “Stories & Texts for Nothing”, p.93, Grove Press

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All life long, the same questions, the same answers.

Samuel Beckett

Long, Answers, Long Life

Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett”, p.91, 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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I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent.

Samuel Beckett

Mean, Use, Taught

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Endgame and Act Without Words”, p.51, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Words and images run riot in my head, pursuing, flying, clashing, merging, endlessly. But beyond this tumult there is a great calm, and a great indifference, never really to be troubled by anything again.

Samuel Beckett

Running, Flying, Calm

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.192, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Memories are killing. So you must not think of certain things, of those that are dear to you, or rather you must think of them, for if you don’t there is the danger of finding them, in your mind, little by little.

Samuel Beckett

Memories, Thinking, Mind

Samuel Beckett (1995). “The Complete Short Prose, 1929-1989”, p.46, Grove Press

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But I was not made for the great light that devours, a dim lamp was all I had been given, and patience without end, to shine it on the empty shadows.

Samuel Beckett

Light, Shining, Shadow

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.113, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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I tried to groan, Help! Help! But the tone that came out was that of polite conversation.

Samuel Beckett

Asking For Help, Tone, Helping

Samuel Beckett (1967). “Stories & Texts for Nothing”, p.62, Grove Press

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To restore silence is the role of objects.

Samuel Beckett

Silence, Roles, Silence Is

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.13, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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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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The old endless chain of love, tolerance, indifference, aversion and disgust

Samuel Beckett

Tolerance, Aversion, Indifference

Samuel Beckett (2011). “Murphy”, p.157, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.

Samuel Beckett

Rain, House, Midnight

Samuel Beckett (2007). “Molloy”, p.186, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Dear incomprehension, it's thanks to you I'll be myself, in the end.

Samuel Beckett

Thanks, Ends, Dear

Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Unnamable”, p.34, Faber & Faber

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

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