Quotessence
Home / Authors / George Carlin
George Carlin

George Carlin Quotes

Comedian

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleFunnyIfsThinkingHumorHumorousStupid PeopleKnowsStupidWay

Famous George Carlin Quotes

“I had run away from home three times. I had been kicked out of three different schools under different circumstances. I was kicked out of everything that I didn't quit. Kicked out of schools. Kicked out of summer camp, the Boy Scouts, the altar boys, the choir, and something else that I can't think of, that I'm proud of. Anyway, that was my pattern. I just began to invent myself early in life, and went out and did something about it.”

ThinkingI CanDifferentHomeRunningSchoolThreeBoysProudCircumstancesSummerPatternsQuittingCampsRunning AwayThree TimesAltarsChoirAway From HomeBoy ScoutSummer Camp
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“Comedy is grievances. It's a recitation of grievances - whether they're inconsequential, superficial - like "my wife shops too much", or "kids today", all those old-fashioned themes - or, if it's deeper, and somewhat more thoughtful, about social imbalance and inequities, and the folly of human behavior. It's usually a complaint.”

IfsHumansKidsTodaySocialComedyToo MuchWifeBehaviorDeeperMy WifeThemeThoughtfulFollyShopsComplaintsSuperficialHuman BehaviorOld FashionedGrievanceImbalanceInconsequentialRecitation
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“That's really a part of my nature , it goes along with autonomy and independence of action - it's just that I don't identify with the local group, no matter what it is, whether it's the human species or the American democracy, the nation, the country, religions, political parties, nothing. None of these have my allegiance because I'm not really concerned with what they do. I don't feel a part of any of this.”

FeelsHumansCountryMatterActionPoliticalNationsPartyDemocracyGroupsConcernedNo Matter WhatIndependenceSpeciesLocalsPolitical PartiesAutonomyAllegianceHuman SpeciesAmerican Democracy
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I like good ideas. I don't want just do something for it's own sake to bother people, but if I can bother them with a logical argument about something they have agreed to in society simplistically - like children are sacred, the cult of the child, this cult of professional parenthood, and of course religion, and respect for policemen and the law, and all of these untouchable areas. I like attacking those beliefs, but in with good sound thinking, and an unusual approach.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantChildrenI CanIdeasLawCoursesBeliefSoundApproachAreasArgumentSacredSakeBotherLogicalParenthoodUnusualGood IdeasCultAttackingPolicemenUntouchablesLogical Arguments
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“Primitive societies, or social groupings, had shamans, and some of them even more recent in time. Shamans were tricksters. There was a tradition of the trickster, and the trickster was a clown, a humorous fellow. His task was to trick the gods, to humor the gods into laughing, so that there was access to the divine - because laughter is a moment when we are completely ourselves.”

MomentsSocialLaughingDivineLaughterHumorousTraditionTasksFellowsAccessTricksPrimitiveClownTricksters
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“Most of the note-taking happens while I'm watching television. It's a broad window on the world, and a lot of things are already established in my mind as things I say, things that I'm interested in, things that are fodder for my [stand-up] machine. And when I see something that relates to one of them, I know it instantly and if it's a further exaggeration and a further addition, or an exception - if it plays into furthering my purpose, I jot it down.”

IfsKnowsWorldMindPlayHappensPurposeTelevisionWindowMachinesNotesRelateExceptionBroadsExaggerationWatching TelevisionFodderNote Taking
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“The fact that I didn't finish school left me with a lifelong need to prove that I'm smart, prove it to myself, maybe to the world. I [also] needed to be - not the center of attention - but I needed to be able to attract attention when I wanted it, through my stunts and my fooling around physically with faces or postures or voices I would do. Those things are important elements in the drive behind all of this [my career].”

WorldNeedsImportantFactsAbleWantedSchoolFacesLeftVoiceBehindsAttentionCareersNeededProveElementsSmartLifelongPostureProve ItFooling AroundCenter Of Attention
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I don't really identify with America, I don't really feel like an American or part of the American experience, and I don't really feel like a member of the human race, to tell you the truth. I know I am, but I really don't. All the definitions are there, but I don't really feel a part of it. I think I have found a detached point of view, an ideal emotional detachment from the American experience and culture and the human experience and culture and human choices.”

ThinkingKnowsFeelsHumansAmericaChoicesCultureFoundViewsRaceEmotionalMembersIdealsDefinitionsPoint Of ViewHuman RaceHuman ExperienceDetachmentDetached
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I'm not an angry person, just very disappointed and contemptuous of my fellow humans' choices - and on stage those feelings sometimes are exaggerated for a theatric stage - you're on a stage you have an audience of 2500 or 3000 people: you need to project the feelings, the emotions it's heightened, and people mistake it for a personal anger but it's more dissatisfaction, disappointment and contempt for these things we've settled for.”

PeopleNeedsHumansPersonsSometimesFeelingsChoicesEmotionMistakeAudienceStageProjectsFellowsAngryDisappointmentDisappointedContemptDissatisfactionExaggeratedContemptuousTheatricsAngry Person
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I use the [vulgar] words because apparently these words do not corrupt morally. I'm from the street in New York, hung around in a tough neighborhood. It was common to curse, you make your point. It's a very effective language. I try not to overdo it. It's never to shock. I know where it fits, it's never to shock. There's no shock value left in words.”

KnowsTryingUseValuesLeftLanguageCommonStreetsNew YorkFitToughCurseShockNeighborhoodHungVulgarShock Value
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I'm not in show business because I don't have to go to the meetings, I'm just not a part of it, I don't belong to it. When you "belong" to something. You want to think about that word, "belong." People should think about that: it means they own you. If you belong to something it owns you, and I just don't care for that. I like spinning out here like one of those subatomic particles that they can't quite pin down.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantShouldMeanShowsCareMeetingsDon't CareShow BusinessParticlesPinsSpinningSubatomic Particles
Author:George Carlin
Create image

“I like to say two things in life that mean the most: genetics and luck. When you look at it realistically, genetics is luck too. Because you could have been born in some really terrible situation and never had a chance to realize yourself or see who you were. And so the luck of genetics and then after that, circumstances, those are the two guiding things.”

LooksMeanHas BeensTwoRealizingBornChanceSituationCircumstancesTerribleLuckTwo ThingsThings In LifeCould Have BeenGenetics
Author:George Carlin
Create image