Quotessence
Home / Authors / Quentin Crisp
Quentin Crisp

Quentin Crisp Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleSexCrispsMenHomosexualityThinkingKnowsLoveWayWorldAmericaEnglandSexualitySaidPersonsShouldFunnyFacesYoung

Famous Quentin Crisp Quotes

“When I was young, I don't know how, I spent all my time in the presence of married women telling me their troubles. And when I said 'Why did you marry?' they said, 'Oh I married to get away from home.' And when I said, 'And why don't you leave him?' they gave the saddest answer in the world: they said, 'Where would I go?' So they stayed with men they didn't like because they had nowhere to go.”

KnowsMenWorldSaidHomeYoungAnswersKnow HowTroubleMarriedMy TimeGet AwayThey SaidSaddestAway From HomeMarried WomenNowhere To Go
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“I've come from a very masculine country to a feminine country. England was very masculine; people went from England to abroad, and they landed from above and they said "These are the gods you will worship, these are the crops you will grow, now go away and do it." Which is a manly attitude. Americans go abroad and they say, "Try not to quarrel so much", which is a feminine attitude.”

PeopleTryingSaidCountryGrowsAttitudeWorshipEnglandGoing AwayFeminineThey SaidMasculineQuarrelsCropsManly
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“I asked a girl who came from America to England, when I was only English, and she admitted she had been to a drama school. And I said, "What did they teach you?" And she said, "They taught me to be a candle burning in an empty room." I'm happy to say she was laughing while she said it, but she meant it. I've never learned to be a candle burning in an empty room. So I go on the screen, and I say whatever I'm told to say.”

SaidSchoolAmericaGirlRoomsTeachLaughingTaughtGoes OnDramaEmptyEnglandScreensBurningCandleEmpty RoomsCandles Burning
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“One of the special beauties of America is that it is the only country in the world where you are not advised to learn the language before entering. Before I ever set out for the United States, I asked a friend if I should study American. His answer was unequivocal. "On no account," he said. "The more English you sound, the more likely you are to be believed."”

IfsWorldShouldSaidCountryStatesAmericaLanguageSoundAnswersUnitedUnited StatesStudySpecialTravelAccountsWhere You AreEnteringUnequivocalSpecial Beauty
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“Because it is in the nature of things that they become extreme, we have passed down from manliness to cruelty. If I had been told when I was 20 that there was a tavern in the town where the brave and the cruel were gathered together, I would have run all the way and I would have gone up to the largest and leatheriest of the denizens and said: If you truly love me, kill the bartender.”

IfsWayLoveSaidRunningTogetherGoneTownsBraveExtremesCrueltyManlinessBartenderTaverns
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?'”

PeopleBelieveSaidReligionSpiritualityPeaceAudienceAtheismCatholicDon't BelieveAtheistIrelandProtestantsStood UpPhilosophy Of ReligionCrispsReligion GodPhilosophy And ReligionNorthern IrelandBeing IrishIreland And The IrishFunny ReligiousFunny Atheist
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“Euphemisms are not, as many young people think, useless verbiage for that which can and should be said bluntly; they are like secret agents on a delicate mission, they must airily pass by a stinking mess with barely so much as a nod of the head, make their point of constructive criticism and continue on in calm forbearance. Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.”

PeopleThinkingShouldSaidYoungSecretCriticismCalmMissionsAgentsMessUselessDelicateConstructiveDiplomaticEuphemismForbearanceCologneConstructive CriticismSecret Agent
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image