Quotessence
Home / Authors / Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry Quotes

Comedian

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsPeopleThinkingKnowsWorldBelieveComedyWayWellsKindWantHumansMayWritingBookLanguageMindGreek MythologyMenReason

Famous Stephen Fry Quotes

“One of the nice things about looking at a bear is that you know it spends 100 per cent of every minute of every day being a bear. It doesn't strive to become a better bear. It doesn't go to sleep thinking, "I wasn't really a very good bear today". They are just 100 per cent bear, whereas human beings feel we're not 100 per cent human, that we're always letting ourselves down. We're constantly striving towards something, to some fulfilment”

ThinkingKnowsFeelsHumansTodayHuman BeingsSleepNiceMinutesBearsStriveVery GoodCentsGoing To SleepNice ThingsFulfilment
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“What other developed democracy has such a ridiculous and squalid history of intolerance? From the imprisonment and roasting of heretics, witches and poachers, to the censorship of literature, art and television: from St Alban through Wilde, Joyce and Lawrence I think we can point with pride to as grim a catalogue of intemperate, bigoted repression as any nation on earth.”

ThinkingArtEarthLiteratureNationsDemocracyTelevisionPrideRidiculousWitchCensorshipIntoleranceRepressionGrimDemocracies HaveImprisonmentHereticJoyceCataloguesWildeRoastingPoachers
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“You think I have more than most people dream of? What other people dream of doesn't matter. I always had less than I ever dreamt of. All I ever dreamt of was family. A father and a mother. Most people don't even need to dream of such luxuries, they take them for granted. That is what I used to dwell on, alone in my bedroom. I dwelt as all children do, on the injustice. Injustice is the most terrible thing in the world, Oliver. Everything that is evil springs from it and only a cheap soul can abide it without anger.”

PeopleThinkingWorldNeedsChildrenSoulMatterDreamUsedMotherEvilFatherTerribleSpringInjusticeLuxuryGrantedBedroomTerrible Things
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“I think Eros should be dirty. In Greek legend, as I'm sure you are aware, he fell in love with the minor deity Psyche. It was the Greek way of saying that, in spite of what it may believe, Love pursues the Soul, not the body; the Erotic desires the Psychic. If Love was clean and wholesome he wouldn't lust after Psyche.”

IfsThinkingWayShouldBelieveMaySoulBodyDesireCleanLustPursueDirtyGreekSpiteLegendsMinorsPsychicsEroticDeitiesErosBelieve In Love
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“Nowadays a lot of what was wrong with me would no doubt be ascribed to Attention Deficit Disorder, tartrazine food colouring, dairy produce and air pollution. A few hundred years earlier it would have been demons, still the best analogy I think, but not much help when it comes to a cure.”

ThinkingYearsHas BeensStillsHelpingAttentionDoubtAirProduceHundredCuresDemonNo DoubtDisorderPollutionDeficitAnalogiesDairyAir PollutionAttention Deficit Disorder
Book:Moab is My Washpot
Create image

“Skepsis. I am a true skeptic, born under the noble sign of skepsis, the sign of the man who knows that all astrology is absolutely and without reservation the bullest of bullsh*t that ever there was. It is a senseless delusion that does not even have the benefit of being harmless fun. It is a harmful bore. Harmful to the human spirit, harmful to the dignity and wonder of the real universe and the real power of the mind to think for itself. I hate astrology with a fervor that is almost frightening. - Stephen Fry (when asked what sign he would be if he could create his own zodiac)”

IfsThinkingKnowsMenMindHumansDoeRealWould BeSpiritHateUniverseFunBornWonderBenefitsDignityI HateNobleDelusionFrighteningBoresHuman SpiritAstrologySkepticReservationsPower Of The MindReal PowerFervorZodiac
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image

“Oscar Wilde quite rightly said, 'All art is useless'. And that may sound as if that means it's something not worth supporting. But if you actually think about it, the things that matter in life are useless. Love is useless. Wine is useless. Art is the love and wine of life. It is the extra, without which life is not worth living.”

IfsThinkingMayMeanArtSaidMatterLife IsSoundLove IsArt IsWineUselessExtrasOscarsWorth LivingThings That MatterWildeLife Is Not Worth LivingWine And Love
Author:Stephen Fry
Create image