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100 Insightful Quotes By Tom Stoppard For The Aficionados

Famous As: Playwright
Born On: July 3, 1937
Born In: Zlín, Czechoslovakia
Age: 86 Years

Sir Tom Stoppard is an eminent Czech-British screenwriter and playwright. He has written profusely for stage, radio, TV, and film. He gained stature with plays like ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Favour,’ ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,’ ‘Arcadia,’ ‘The Real Thing,’ ‘The Invention of Love,’ ‘Professional Foul,’ ‘The Coast of Utopia,’ and ‘Travesties.’ He bagged in four ‘Tony Awards’ and one ‘Academy Award’ for his writings. His works encompass themes of political freedom, human rights, and censorships. Besides being one of the most performed dramatists of his generation across the globe, he is also an illustrious playwright of the ‘National Theatre.’ Following are some of the noted quotes by Tom Stoppard, which have been gathered from his writings, plays, tweets, interviews, public utterances, books, novels, and films. Go through quotes by Tom Stoppard that will keep you focused.

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We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.

We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.

Tom Stoppard
It is a defect of God's humor that he directs our hearts everywhere but to those who have a right to them.

It is a defect of God's humor that he directs our hearts everywhere but to those who have a right to them.

Tom Stoppard
Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.

Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.

Tom Stoppard
There must have been a moment, at the beginning, were we could have said -- no. But somehow we missed it.

There must have been a moment, at the beginning, were we could have said -- no. But somehow we missed it.

Tom Stoppard
Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You'd have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking: Well, at least I'm not dead.

Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You'd have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking: Well, at least I'm not dead.

Tom Stoppard
We're actors — we're the opposite of people!

We're actors — we're the opposite of people!

Tom Stoppard
I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course.

I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course.

Tom Stoppard
Rosencrantz: I don't believe in it anyway.
Guildenstern: What?
Rosencrantz: England.
Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

Rosencrantz: I don't believe in it anyway. Guildenstern: What? Rosencrantz: England. Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

Tom Stoppard
Life is a gamble, at terrible odds. If it were a bet you wouldn’t take it.

Life is a gamble, at terrible odds. If it were a bet you wouldn’t take it.

Tom Stoppard
Pirates could happen to anyone.

Pirates could happen to anyone.

Tom Stoppard
Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?

Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?

Tom Stoppard
We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.

We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.

Tom Stoppard
We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.

We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.

Tom Stoppard
Words, words. They're all we have to go on.

Words, words. They're all we have to go on.

Tom Stoppard
I am not my body. My body is nothing without me.

I am not my body. My body is nothing without me.

Tom Stoppard
The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody.

The colours red, blue and green are real. The colour yellow is a mystical experience shared by everybody.

Tom Stoppard
What a fine persecution—to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

What a fine persecution—to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

Tom Stoppard
Be happy -- if you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving?

Be happy -- if you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving?

Tom Stoppard
It's no trick loving somebody at their best. Love is loving them at their worst.

It's no trick loving somebody at their best. Love is loving them at their worst.

Tom Stoppard
It would have been nice to have had unicorns.

It would have been nice to have had unicorns.

Tom Stoppard
It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.

It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.

Tom Stoppard
Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

Tom Stoppard
...reality, the name we give to the common experience.

...reality, the name we give to the common experience.

Tom Stoppard
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Tom Stoppard
When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore.

When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore.

Tom Stoppard
What are a friend's books for if not to be borrowed?

What are a friend's books for if not to be borrowed?

Tom Stoppard
Rosencrantz: Shouldn't we be doing something--constructive?
Guildenstern: What did you have in mind? ... A short, blunt human pyramid...?

Rosencrantz: Shouldn't we be doing something--constructive? Guildenstern: What did you have in mind? ... A short, blunt human pyramid...?

Tom Stoppard
I'm going to be dead before I read the books I'm going to read.

I'm going to be dead before I read the books I'm going to read.

Tom Stoppard
The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is.

The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is.

Tom Stoppard
It's the wanting to know that makes us matter.

It's the wanting to know that makes us matter.

Tom Stoppard