Noël Coward > Quotes

“It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”
― Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit

“I like long walks, especialy when they are taken by people who annoy me.”
― Noel Coward

“I don't know what London's coming to — the higher the buildings the lower the morals.”
― Noël Coward, Collected Sketches and Lyrics

“My importance to the world is relatively small. On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous. I am all I have to work with, to play with, to suffer and to enjoy. It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but of my own. I do not intend to let myself down more than I can possibly help, and I find that the fewer illusions I have about myself or the world around me, the better company I am for myself.”
― Noel Coward

“Wouldn't it be dreadful to live in a country where they didn't have tea?”
― Noel Coward

“Having to read footnotes resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.”
― Noel Coward

“Work is more fun than fun.”
― Noel Coward

“Thousands of people have talent. I might as well congratulate you for having eyes in your head. The one and only thing that counts is: Do you have staying power?”
― Noel Coward

“Strange how potent cheap music is.”
― Noel Coward, Private Lives: An Intimate Comedy in Three Acts

“Work hard, do the best you can, don't ever lose faith in yourself and take no notice of what other people say about you.”
― Noel Coward

“What I adore is supreme professionalism. I’m bored by writers who can write only when it’s raining.”
― Noel Coward

“I have a memory like an elephant. In fact, elephants often consult me. ”
― Noel Coward

“Grab it while you can — grab every scrap of happiness while you can”
― Noël Coward

“I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise. ”
― Noel Coward

“AMANDA: I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives.”
― Noel Coward, Private Lives an Intimate Comedy in Three Acts

“Wit ought to be a glorious treat, like caviar. Never spread it about like marmalade.”
― Noël Coward

“its discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by decite”
― Noel Coward

“Time is the reef upon which all our mystic ships are wrecked.”
― Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit

“Entering an white tie and tails party wearing an ordinary suit, he announced,"Please, I don't want anyone to apologize for over dressing.”
― Noel Coward

“She's a self-conscious vampire ... and she goes about using sex as a sort of shrimping net.”
― Noel Coward

“You kissed me because you were awfully nice and I was awfully nice and we both liked kissing very much. It was inevitable.”
― Noël Coward, Hay Fever - A light comedy

“Television is for appearing on - not for looking at.”
― Noël Coward

“If by any chance a playwright wishes to express a political opinion or a moral opinion or a philosophy, he must be a good enough craftsman to do it with so much spice of entertainment in it that the public get the message without being aware of it.”
― Noël Coward, A talent to amuse: A biography of Noël Coward

“I'll go and see anything so long as it amuses me, or moves me. If it doesn't do either I want to go home.”
― Noël Coward

“Las Vegas:
It was not cafe society, it was Nescafe society.”
― Noel Coward

“To know you are among people whom you love, and who love you – that has made all the successes wonderful, much more wonderful than they'd have been anyway.”
― Noël Coward

“It's a sad reflection on society how many people are shocked by honesty... and how few by dishonesty.”
― Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit

“It's a pity you didn't have a little more brandy. It might have made you more agreeable!”
― Noël Coward, Private Lives: An Intimate Comedy in Three Acts

“It is my considered opinion that the human race (soi disant) is cruel, idiotic, sentimental, predatory, ungrateful, ugly, conceited and egocentric to the last ditch and that the occasional discovery of an isolated exception is as deliciously surprising as finding a sudden brazil nut in what you know to be five pounds of vanilla creams. These glorious moments, although not making life actually worth living, perhaps, at least make it pleasanter.”
― Noël Coward

“There are dark times just around the corner. There are dark clouds travelling through the sky. And it's no good whining about a silver lining. For we know from experience they won't roll by.”
― Noel Coward