8 Brilliant Witticisms from Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett (13 April, 1906 – 22nd December, 1989) was an Irish author, novelist, playwright, and poet. Beckett lived in Paris for much of his life and was bi-lingual, writing in both English and French. He is considered to be one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.

Beckett’s work often looked at the bleaker aspects of human existence and his use of black comedy and gallows humour can be seen throughout his work. Considered to be one of the last modernist writers, Beckett was one of the key figures in the Theatre of the Absurd, a post WWII designation for plays of absurdist fiction written during the late 1950s.

In his early life Beckett excelled as a left-handed batsman on the cricket pitch and went on to play for Dublin University. As such he became the only Nobel literature laureate to have played first class cricket.

Today we’re remembering the author in a series of quotes from his works.

“We are all born mad. Some remain so.”

“All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

“There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.”

“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that… Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it’s always the same thing. Yes, it’s like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don’t laugh any more.”

“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.”

“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.”

“My mistakes are my life.”

“Poets are the sense, philosophers the intelligence of humanity.”