Home / Quotes / Quote by Tom Stoppard

Quote by Tom Stoppard

“If you were handed power on a plate you'd be left fighting over a plate.”

Quote by Tom Stoppard

Author

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. more

You May Also Like

“It seems pointless to be quoted if one isn't going to be quotable ... it's better to be quotable than honest.”

Ifs Seems Honest Pointless

Book:Tom Stoppard in Conversation

Source: Tom Stoppard in Conversation

“There is presumably a calendar date a moment when the onus of proof passed from the atheist to the believer, when, quite suddenly, secretly, the noes had it.”

Moments Atheist Proof Believer Calendars

Book:Jumpers

Source: Jumpers

“It was precisely this notion of infinite series which in the sixth century BC led the Greek philosopher Zeno to conclude that since an arrow shot towards a target first had to cover half the distance, and then half the remainder, and then half the remainder after that, and so on ad infinitum, the result was, as I will now demonstrate, that though an arrow is always approaching its target, it never quite gets there, and Saint Sebastian died of fright.”

Firsts Results Half Century Shots Died Infinite Distance Series Notion Saint Philosopher Greek Target Ads Never Quit Arrows Fright Greek Philosopher

Book:Jumpers

Source: Jumpers

“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

“A foreign correspondent is someone who lives in foreign parts and corresponds, usually in the form of essays containing no new facts. Otherwise he's someone who flies around from hotel to hotel and thinks that the most interesting thing about any story is the fact that he has arrived to cover it.”

Thinking Facts Stories Form Interesting Hotel Essays Most Interesting Interesting Things Containing

Author:Tom Stoppard

“Junk journalism is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right, that there should be nobody with the power to dictate where responsible journalism begins.”

Should One Thing Evidence Responsible Journalism Junk

Book:Tom Stoppard: Plays

Source: Tom Stoppard: Plays

“To be an artist at all is like living in Switzerland during a world war. To be an artist in Zurich, in 1917, implies a degree of self-absorption that would have glazed over the eyes of Narcissus.”

World War Self Eye Artist Degrees War Of The Worlds Switzerland Absorption Self Absorption Narcissus Zurich

Book:Travesties

Source: Travesties

“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

“Public postures have the configuration of private derangement.”

Posture Configuration

Book:Tom Stoppard Plays 5: The Real Thing; Night & Day; Hapgood; Indian Ink; Arcadia

Source: Tom Stoppard Plays 5: The Real Thing; Night & Day; Hapgood; Indian Ink; Arcadia

“Once in pre-war days, when curiously-bonneted women drivers were familiar sights at the taxi-wheels, I cried out to one in my dismay: "Is there no speed limit in this mad city?" "Oh, yes, monsieur," she answered sweetly over her shoulder, "but no one has ever succeeded in reaching it."”

War Cities Limits Sight Mad Speed Shoulders Familiar Wheels Reaching Drivers Cried Taxi Dismay Speed Limits

Author:Alexander Woollcott