Samuel Beckett Quotes - Page 2

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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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I can't go on. I'll go on.

Samuel Beckett

Grieving, Tragedy, Goes On

The Unnamable (1959)

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It is useless not to seek, not to want, for when you cease to seek you start to find, and when you cease to want, then life begins to ram her fish and chips down your gullet until you puke, and then the puke down your gullet until you puke the puke, and then the puked puke until you begin to like it.

Samuel Beckett

Rams, Useless, Want

Samuel Beckett (2012). “Watt”, p.33, Faber & Faber

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All has not been said and never will be.

Samuel Beckett

Originality, Said

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James Joyce was a synthesizer, trying to bring in as much as he could. I am an analyzer, trying to leave out as much as I can.

Samuel Beckett

Trying, Synthesizers, Joyce

1981 In the New York Times,19 Apr.

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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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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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There's something dripping in my head. A heart, a heart in my head.

Samuel Beckett

Heart, Dripping

"Endgame". Play by Samuel Beckett, 1957.

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What do we do now, now that we are happy?

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.415, 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.

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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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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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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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All mankind is us, whether we like it or not.

Samuel Beckett

Waiting For Godot, Godot, Cruel Fate

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

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I am still alive then. That may come in useful.

Samuel Beckett

Alive, May, Stills

Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.236, 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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Life is habit. Or rather life is a succession of habits.

Samuel Beckett

Life Is, Habit, Succession

Samuel Beckett, Georges Duthuit (1965). “Proust”, Riverrun Press

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But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!

Samuel Beckett

Too Late, Waiting For Godot, Moments

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

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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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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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The Tuesday scowls, the Wednesday growls, the Thursday curses, the Friday howls, the Saturday snores, the Sunday yawns, the Monday morns, the Monday morns. The whacks, the moans, the cracks, the groans, the welts, the squeaks, the belts, the shrieks, the pricks, the prayers, the kicks, the tears, the skelps, and the yelps.

Samuel Beckett

Friday, Monday, Prayer

Samuel Beckett (2009). “Watt”, p.37, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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I am interested in the shape of ideas even if I do not believe in them. There is a wonderful sentence in Augustine . . . "Do not despair: one of the thieves was saved; do not presume: one of the thieves was damned." That sentence had a wonderful shape. It is the shape that matters.

Samuel Beckett

Believe, Ideas, Despair

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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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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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Art has nothing to do with clarity, does not dabble in the clear and does not make clear

Samuel Beckett

Art, Doe, Clarity

Samuel Beckett, Ruby Cohn (1983). “Disjecta: miscellaneous writings and a dramatic fragment”, Riverrun Pr

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

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