Quotes from Waiting for Godot

“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, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?

Vladimir: Yes, yes, we're magicians.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Je suis comme ça. Ou j'oublie tout de suite ou je n'oublie jamais."

Samuel BECKETT, En attendant Godot

I'm like that. Either I forget right away or I never forget. ”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Vladimir: Did I ever leave you?
Estragon: You let me go.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Godot.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! 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! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say? It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflexion, or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. 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, quote from Waiting for Godot

“ESTRAGON: I can't go on like this.
VLADIMIR: That's what you think.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Estragon: I'm like that. Either I forget right away or I never forget.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“VLADIMIR: What do they say?
ESTRAGON: They talk about their lives.
VLADIMIR: To have lived is not enough for them.
ESTRAGON: They have to talk about it.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Estragon: People are bloody ignorant apes.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“ESTRAGON: Don't touch me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me!
VLADIMIR: Did I ever leave you?
ESTRAGON: You let me go.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“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, quote from Waiting for Godot

“That's how it is on this bitch of an earth.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“POZZO:
I am blind.
(Silence.)
ESTRAGON:
Perhaps he can see into the future.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“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. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Estragon: What about hanging ourselves?
Vladimir: Hmm. It'd give us an erection.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“There is man in his entirety, blaming his shoe when his foot is guilty.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“We always find something, eh Didi, to let us think we exist?”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“I’m like that. Either I forget right away or I never forget.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“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, quote from Waiting for Godot

“Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place, until the fall of night, I waited for Godot?”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

“We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. But habit is a great deadener.”
― Samuel Beckett, quote from Waiting for Godot

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“The New York power failure was not the first time the Hell's Angels have confounded the forces of decency and got off scot-free. They are incredibly devious. Law enforcement officials have compared their guile to that of the snipe, a wily beast that many have seen but few have ever trapped. This is because the snipe has the ability to transform himself, when facing capture, into something entirely different. The only other animals capable of this are the werewolf and the Hell's Angel, which have many traits in common. The physical resemblance is obvious, but far more important is the transmogrification factor, the strange ability to alter their own physical structure, and hence "disappear." The Hell's Angels are very close-mouthed about this, but it is a well-known fact among public officials. ... About halfway through our talk I got a strong whiff of the transmogrification factor, but I was hardly prepared for the mayor's special fillip on it. There were plenty of Hell's Angels at the riot, "but they escaped, " he explained, "behind a wall of fire." While he elaborated on this I checked my calendar to make sure I hadn't lost track of the days. If it was Sunday, perhaps he had just come back from church in a high, biblical state of mind. At any moment I expected to hear that the Angels had driven their motorcycles straight into the sea, which had rolled back to let them pass. But no, it wasn't like that. The mayor was not loath to give details of the escape; he wanted law enforcement agencies everywhere to be warned of the Angels' methods. Knowledge is power, he opined.”
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“It’s like disco inferno up in here”
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“He regarded her indignantly. “Did she say I broke our engagement?”

“She didn’t say hardly anything when I talked to her this morning, just that the two of you reached a mutual decision to end your relationship.”

“And you assumed that meant I ended it.”

“Didn’t you?”

“Hell, no.”

“Are you saying Gracie dumped you?”

He saw too late the trap he’d laid for himself.

“‘Course not. Nobody dumps me.”

“She did, didn’t she? She dumped you! Holy Moses! A person of the female species finally gave Bobby Tom Denton back a little bit of what he’s been giving out.” Grinning widely, she lifted her face to the heavens. “Thank you, Jesus!”

“Will you stop that! She didn’t dump me. Haven’t you figured out by now that we were never really engaged! It was just a ploy to keep everybody off my back while I was in town.” The fact that Terry Jo was making a joke out of this hurt in a way he couldn’t express.

“Of course you were engaged. A blind fool could see the two of you love each other.”

“We do not! Well, maybe she loves me, but…I care about her. Who wouldn’t? She’s about the best kind of woman there is. But, love? She’s not my type, Terry Jo.”

Terry Jo gave him a long, steady gaze. “It’s amazing. You don’t know any more about women now than you did in high school when you threw me over for Sherri Hopper.” She regarded him sadly. “When are you going to grow up, Bobby Tom?”
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“The victories of the imagination involved no risks, and a confrontation with an enemy always ended satisfactorily when both sides of the conversation came from one’s own daydreams.”
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