John Osborne Quotes

Quotes about:

• Asking a writer what he thinks about criticism is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.

  John Osborne

  Dog, Writing, Thinking

  9 Copy quote

• There's no such thing as failure - just waiting for success.

  John Osborne

  Waiting

  John Osborne (1958). “Three Plays”

  5 Copy quote

• They spend their time looking forward to the past.

  John Osborne

  Past, Looking Forward

  11 Copy quote

• Don't be afraid of being emotional. You won't die of it.

  John Osborne

  Emotional, Atheism, Positive Atheism

  John Osborne (2014). “Looking Back”, p.17, Faber & Faber

  8 Copy quote

• Don't clap too hard - it's a very old building.

  John Osborne

  Old Buildings, Architecture, Building

  'The Entertainer' (1957) no. 7

  13 Copy quote

• The schoolteacher is certainly underpaid as a childminder, but ludicrously overpaid as an educator.

  John Osborne

  Educator, Underpaid

  John Osborne (2014). “Damn You England: Collected Prose”, p.50, Faber & Faber

  7 Copy quote

• It is not true that drink changes a man's character. It may reveal it more clearly.

  John Osborne

  Character, Men, May

  John Osborne, Henry Fielding (2011). “Tom Jones”, p.48, Oberon Books

  5 Copy quote

• Censorship is the commonest social blasphemy because it is mostly concealed, built into us by indolence, self-interest and cowardice.

  John Osborne

  Fear, Self, Censorship

  7 Copy quote

• Let's pretend that we're human beings and that we're actually alive.

  John Osborne

  Alive, Humans, Human Beings

  John Osborne (2014). “Looking Back”, p.358, Faber & Faber

  7 Copy quote

• You see I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry - angry and helpless. And I can never forget it. I knew more about - love... betrayal... and death, when I was ten years old than you will probably ever know in your life.

  John Osborne

  Love, Betrayal, Years

  John Osborne (1957). “Look Back in Anger”, Penguin Books

  8 Copy quote

• Go on - but don't think you can kill my confidence. I've had experts doing it for years.

  John Osborne

  Confidence, Thinking, Years

  John Osborne (2013). “John Osborne Plays 1: Look Back in Anger; Epitaph for George Dillon; The World of Paul Slickey; Dejavu”, p.128, Faber & Faber

  11 Copy quote

• Laughter's the nearest we ever get, or should get, to sainthood. It's the state of grace that saves most of us from contempt.

  John Osborne

  Laughter, Grace, Sainthood

  John Osborne, Anthony Creighton, Arnold Wesker, Bernard Kops (1964). “Epitaph for George Dillon”

  4 Copy quote

• Writers don't need love; all they require is money.

  John Osborne

  Writing, Needs, Need Love

  11 Copy quote

• A refined sort of butcher, a woman is.

  John Osborne

  Butchers, Refined

  10 Copy quote

• I must be the luckiest man in the world. Not only am I bisexual, I am also Welsh.

  John Osborne

  Bisexual, Men, World

  11 Copy quote

• I never deliberately set out to shock, but when people don't walk out of my plays I think there is something wrong.

  John Osborne

  Thinking, Play, People

  4 Copy quote

• Royalty is the gold filling in a mouthful of decay

  John Osborne

  Gold, Decay, Filling In

  46 Copy quote

• And even in the hatred of the majority, there's a kind of triumph because I know that, although they'd never admit it, they secretly respect me.

  John Osborne

  Hatred, Triumph, Majority

  John Osborne (1958). “Three Plays”

  7 Copy quote

• Oh heavens, how I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm - that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm alive!

  John Osborne

  Voice, Long, Heaven

  'Look Back in Anger' (1956) act 1

  7 Copy quote

• It is easy to answer the ultimate questions - it saves you bothering with the immediate ones.

  John Osborne

  Answers, Easy, Ultimate Questions

  John Osborne (2013). “John Osborne Plays 1: Look Back in Anger; Epitaph for George Dillon; The World of Paul Slickey; Dejavu”, p.122, Faber & Faber

  7 Copy quote

• We all of us waited for him to die. The family sent him a check every month, and hoped he'd get on with it quietly, without too much vulgar fuss.

  John Osborne

  Death, Dying, Too Much

  9 Copy quote

• In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea.

  John Osborne

  Tea, London, Scandal

  John Osborne, Henry Fielding (2011). “Tom Jones”, p.114, Oberon Books

  7 Copy quote

• Here we are, we're alone in the universe, there's no God, it just seems that it all began by something as simple as sunlight striking on a piece of rock. And here we are. We've only got ourselves. Somehow, we've just got to make a go of it. We've only ourselves.

  John Osborne

  Simple, Rocks, Atheism

  John Osborne (2013). “John Osborne Plays 2: The Entertainer; The Hotel in Amsterdam; West of Suez; Time Present”, p.83, Faber & Faber

  7 Copy quote

• That voice that cries out doesn't have to be a weakling's does it?

  John Osborne

  Voice, Doe, Cry

  John Osborne (2013). “Look Back in Anger”, p.98, Faber & Faber

  4 Copy quote

• The whole point of a sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place. People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say -- or their beliefs -- or sex.

  John Osborne

  Sex, Giving Up, Sacrifice

  4 Copy quote

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