Waiting For Godot Quotes

• Waiting for Godot has achieved a theoretical impossibility — a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps the audience glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice.

  Vivian Mercier

  Play, Waiting, Firsts

  "The Uneventful Event". The Irish Times, p. 6, February 18, 1956.

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• What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come

  Samuel Beckett

  Blessed, Confusion, Waiting

  Samuel Beckett (2011). “Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts”, p.78, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Godot.

  Samuel Beckett

  Waiting, Why Not, Godot

  Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.438, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh.

  Samuel Beckett

  Somewhere Else, Laughing, Tears

  "Waiting for Godot". Play by Samuel Beckett, 1952.

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• Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.

  Samuel Beckett

  Bored, Awful, Inertia

  Waiting for Godot act 1 (1952)

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• Estragon: I can't go on like this.
  Vladimir: That's what you think.

  Samuel Beckett

  Moving On, Encouraging, Thinking

  "Waiting for Godot". Play by Samuel Beckett, 1952.

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• Vladimir: I don't understand. Estragon: Use your intelligence, can't you? Vladimir uses his intelligence. Vladimir: (finally) I remain in the dark.

  Samuel Beckett

  Dark, Intelligence, Use

  Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett”, p.17, Faber & Faber

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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, Moments, Cruel Fate

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

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• What are we doing here, that is the question.

  Samuel Beckett

  Life, Godot, Existence

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

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• We all are born mad. Some remain so.

  Samuel Beckett

  Mad, Godot, Born

  'Waiting for Godot' (1955) act 2

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• 

  Nothing is more real than nothing.

  Samuel Beckett

  Real

  Samuel Beckett (2009). “Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable”, p.186, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist? Vladimir: Yes, yes, we're magicians.

  Samuel Beckett

  Giving, Impression, Magician

  Waiting for Godot act 2 (1952)

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• Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I'm waiting to fall in love'. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came.

  Ian Mckellen

  Falling In Love, Children, Winning

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• There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet.

  Samuel Beckett

  Life, Hate, Men

  Samuel Beckett (2012). “Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts”, p.27, Faber & Faber

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• To every man his little cross. Till he dies. And is forgotten.

  Samuel Beckett

  Men, Littles, Forgotten

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• To-morrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of to-day?

  Samuel Beckett

  Thinking, Godot, Morrow

  Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.454, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Don't touch me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me!

  Samuel Beckett

  Speak, Stay With Me, Touch Me

  Samuel Beckett (2007). “I Can't Go On, I'll Go On: A Samuel Beckett Reader”, p.412, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.

  Samuel Beckett

  Time, Night, Light

  Waiting for Godot act 2 (1952)

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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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• We wait. We are bored. (He throws up his hand.) No, don't protest, we are bored to death, there's no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste. Come, let's get to work! (He advances towards the heap, stops in his stride.) In an instant all will vanish and we'll be alone more, in the midst of nothingness!

  Samuel Beckett

  Hands, Bored, Waiting

  Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett”, p.72, Faber & Faber

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

  Samuel Beckett

  Godot, Cruel Fate, Mankind

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

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• When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.' As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing.

  Ian Mckellen

  Sweet, Waiting, Theatre

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• We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener.

  Samuel Beckett

  Air, Cry, Habit

  Samuel Beckett (2012). “The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett”, p.81, Faber & Faber

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• Let us do something, while we have the chance! ... Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us!

  Samuel Beckett

  Fate, Too Late, Chance

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

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• Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot,' billed as 'the laugh sensation of two continents,' made its American debut at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, Florida, in 1956. My father, Bert Lahr, was playing Estragon, one of the two bowler-hatted tramps who pass the time in a lunar landscape as they wait in vain for the arrival of a Mr. Godot.

  John Lahr

  Father, Florida, Two

  "Panic Attack". www.newyorker.com. May 18, 2009.

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