Samuel Beckett Quotes

Quotes about:

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.

Samuel Beckett

Inspirational, Motivational, Encouraging

1983 Worst ward Ho.

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

Samuel Beckett

Life, Dance, Thinking

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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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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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We are all born crazy. Some remain that way.

Samuel Beckett

Crazy, Way, Born

1955 Waiting for Godot, act 2.

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

Samuel Beckett

Silence, Quiet, Language

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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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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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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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And what I have, what I am, is enough, was always enough for me, and as far as my dear little sweet little future is concerned I have no qualms, I have a good time coming.

Samuel Beckett

Sweet, Qualms About, Littles

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.271, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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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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If you don't know where you are currently standing, you're dead.

Samuel Beckett

Baseball, Goals Dreams, Yankees

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Yes, in my life, since we must call it so, there were three things, the inability to speak, the inability to be silent, and solitude, that’s what I’ve had to make the best of.

Samuel Beckett

Use It Or Lose It, Solitude, Three Things

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.389, 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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I have my faults, but changing my tune is not one of them.

Samuel Beckett

Teaching, Learning, Tunes

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.329, 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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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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Born: April 13, 1906
Died: December 22, 1989
Occupation: Novelist
Cite this Page: Citation

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