Home / Authors / Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard Quotes

Playwright

Tom Stoppard is a renowned British playwright, born on July 3, 1937. His works are known for their witty dialogue and complex structure, with notable plays including 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' and 'The Real Thing'. Stoppard has received multiple Tony Awards and Olivier Awards for his contributions to theatre.

Filter quotes by topic

All Ifs Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Writing People Thinking Knows Play Arcadia World Art Men Two Way Giving Mean Wells I Can Feels Kind Littles

Famous Tom Stoppard Quotes

“How the hell do I know what I find incredible? Credibility is an expanding field... Sheer disbelief hardly registers on the face before the head is nodding with all the wisdom of instant hindsight.”

Knows Faces Hell Fields Incredibles Instant Sheer Expanding Credibility Disbelief Register Hindsight Nodding

Book:Jumpers

Source: Jumpers

“I know the British press is very attached to the lobby system. It lets the journalists and the politicians feel proud of their traditional freedoms while giving the reader as much of the truth as they think is good for him.”

Thinking Knows Giving Feels Reader Proud Politician Presses British Traditional Journalist

Author:Tom Stoppard

“Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.”

Knows Lasts Chance Too Much Childhood Last Chance

Book:Tom Stoppard Plays 2: The Dissolution of Dominic Boot; 'M' is for Moon Among Other Things; If You're Glad I'll Be Frank; Albert's Bridge; Where Are They Now?; Artist Descending a Staircase; The Dog It Was That Died; In the Native State; On 'Dover Beach'

Source: Tom Stoppard Plays 2: The Dissolution of Dominic Boot; 'M' is for Moon Among Other Things; If You're Glad I'll Be Frank; Albert's Bridge; Where Are They Now?; Artist Descending a Staircase; The Dog It Was That Died; In the Native State; On 'Dover Beach'

“The causes we know everything about depend on causes we know very little about, which depend on causes we know absolutely nothing about.”

Knows Littles Causes Depends Absolutely Nothing

Author:Tom Stoppard

“It's probably unprecedented for a filmmaker simply to take the writers' script and treat it as the instructions on the package. What really happens is you pretty much suppress your own instincts - and your own views on the matter - and write things the way filmmakers would like to have them, though the filmmakers often don't know what they want. They can only find out by reading what you do.”

Knows Way Want Writing Matter Happens Reading Views Treats Instinct Scripts Filmmaker Instruction Packages Unprecedented

Author:Tom Stoppard

“Sometimes people are so close to the material, they miss an important cross-reference. You can't drop this line because half an hour later, it affects that line. And the writer is the person who knows that immediately.”

People Knows Persons Important Sometimes Hours Lines Half Missing Materials Crosses

Author:Tom Stoppard

“I never had any frustration about writing uncredited. I always felt that the satisfaction of doing it was in the doing of it, really, and getting recognised by the small number of people that know what you did.”

People Knows Writing Felt Numbers Satisfaction Frustration Small Numbers

Author:Tom Stoppard