Tom Stoppard Quotes
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If rationality were the criterion for things being allowed to exist, the world would be one gigantic field of soya beans!
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I think that the present is worth attention, one shouldn't sacrifice it to future conceptions of, of this future or that future.
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A great production of a black comedy is better than a mediocre production of a comedy of errors.
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Junk journalism is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right, that there should be nobody with the power to dictate where responsible journalism begins.
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I was so thrilled being a reporter, because it gave you the kind of access to people that you wouldn't ever get to meet.
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I was delighted to not go to university. I couldn't wait to be out of education.
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The whole philosophy of modern times is to dissolve distinctions between individuals and deal with them as large collections of people. It's essentially self-interested on the part of authority.
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I'm offended by things and take pathetic little stands against them.
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If enough things that are untrue are said about you, no one will know what really is true.
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Any revival in which I am involved is liable to change.
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Normally, even if you're on the set for 12 hours, there may be only a moment or two when you are actually useful.
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You're familiar with the tragedies of antiquity, are you? The great homicidal classics?
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Revolution is a trivial shift in the emphasis of suffering.
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Chater: You dare to call me that. I demand satisfaction! Septimus: Mrs Chater demanded satisfaction and now you are demanding satisfaction. I cannot spend my time day and night satisfying the demands of the Chater family.
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I'm a conservative kind of person. I don't think rightwing is quite the same thing. But I acknowledge my conservatism of temperament.
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Theater is still a medium which attracts young writers. You'd think that it would be all over by now, with television and film. But it's not.
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It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
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You can't but know that if you can capture the emotions of the audience as well as their minds, the play will work better, because it's a narrative art form.
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Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.
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The idea of the state is, or should be, a very limited, prescribed idea. The state looks after the defense of the realm, and other matters - raising revenue to pay for things which are for all of us, and so on. That idea has turned turtle now. The state isn't any longer perceived as an institution which exists to serve us.
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We've traveled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hope of explanation.
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On Broadway, only the fire doors separate you from the sidewalk and you're lucky if the sound of a police car doesn't rip the envelope twice a night.
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I really love being in postproduction. First of all, it's all quite self-interested: You can protect things.
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...reality, the name we give to the common experience.