Eric Idle > Quotes

“Life doesn't make any sense, and we all pretend it does. Comedy's job is to point out that it doesn't make sense, and that it doesn't make much difference anyway.”
― Eric Idle

“Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...”
― Eric Idle

“sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will make me cry by myself in a corner for hours.”
― Eric Idle

“At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.”
― Eric Idle

“Know what I mean? Eh, eh, Nudge nudge, Say no more?”
― Eric Idle

“Always look on the brighter side of life”
― Eric Idle, Greedy Bastard Diary

“Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it, life's a laugh and deat's a joke, it's true: You'll se it's all a show, keep'em laughing as you go, just remember that the last laugh is on YOU...and ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE”
― Eric Idle

“The room was rococo. I had a strong sense of gilt.”
― Eric Idle, The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel

“Sind sie vorbestraft? Du lieber Himmel ich wußte gar nicht, dass das immer noch nötig ist." Britischer Witz über die Einreise nach Australien”
― Eric Idle, Die Reise zum Mars : Roman

“Mere lack of evidence, of course, is no reason to denounce a theory. Look at intelligent design. The fact that it is bollocks hasn’t stopped a good many people from believing in it. Darwinism itself is only supported by tons of evidence, which is a clear indication that Darwin didn’t write his books himself.”
― Eric Idle

“I think, after all, I’m happiest being a foreigner. Perhaps there should be a Homo sapiens passport? I feel less and less connected to individual states, and more and more connected to human beings.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“Always look on the bright side of life.”
― Eric Idle, The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok

“Laughter is the only sane response to pathological lying.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will make you go into a corner by myself and cry for hours.”
― Eric Idle

“So, what have I learned over my long and weird life?
Well, first, that there are two kinds of people, and I don’t much care for either of them. Second, when faced with a difficult choice, either way is often best. Third, always leave a party when people begin to play the bongos.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

“I have British teeth. They are like British politics: they go in all directions at once.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

“Life has a very simple plot,
First you’re here
And then you’re not.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“always leave a party when people begin to play the bongos.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“Fuck you very much, the FCC.
Fuck you very much for fining me.
Five thousand bucks a fuck,
So I'm really out of luck.
That's more than Heidi Fleiss was charging me.”
― Eric Idle

“If one of the best ways to appreciate life is to have an unhappy childhood, I was very fortunate.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

“Not that I want to go, of course. I’ll be like the rest of you, clinging on desperately and screaming for more morphine.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“If this isn't exactly what went down, it's certainly how it should have happened.”
― Eric Idle

“I bring messages and thanks from the others. Terry Gilliam sadly can't be with us tonight as they won't let him show his ass, which has been very favorably compared with Spielberg's ass.
Graham Chapman can't be with us tonight, as sadly he is still dead. And John Cleese is finishing a movie.
He has to get it back to Blockbuster by tomorrow.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

“Ours was an extraordinary generation, born into a devastated world, exhausted from six years of total war. Sixty million died. Nowadays the young think times are tough if they can’t get an Internet connection. They’re right; times are tough, but there was a time before it all began to go to shit, when it all really was shit. Our generation was born into that time. It was called World War II.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“the best moment in showbiz is when it is over. It’s somewhat like sex in that regard…”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“I have been very blessed in my life and rewarded with good friends and good health. I am grateful and happy to be able to share this.”
― Eric Idle

“The birth of my son in 1973 was the most emotional experience of my life so far. We called him Carey after Carey Harrison, my friend from Cambridge with whom I’d first traveled to France, and as I drove away from the hospital, the Joni Mitchell song of the same name came on the radio. I burst into tears”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“Once you’re in the circus you’re all in the circus, and of course it turns out that they are real people too.”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography

“Levity is a universal constant. Comedy is one of the basic forces of the Universe. Mankind latches onto comedy, because levity is the expanding principle that keeps the whole bubble inflating.”
― Eric Idle, The Road to Mars: A Post-Modem Novel

“After the show Humphrey Barclay, a highly talented Harrovian Head Boy who could act, direct, and draw cartoons, introduced me to John Cleese, a very tall man with black hair and piercing dark eyes. They were very complimentary and encouraged me to audition for the Footlights. I had never heard of this University Revue Club, founded in 1883 to perform sketches and comedy shows, but it seemed like a fun thing to do, and a month later Jonathan Lynn and I were voted in by the Committee, after performing to a packed crowd of comedy buffs in the Footlights’ Club Room. Jonathan, a talented actor, writer, and jazz drummer, would go on to direct Pass the Butler, my first play in the West End, and also write and direct Nuns on the Run, a movie with me and Robbie Coltrane. The audition sketch I had written for us played surprisingly well and, strange details, in the front row, lounging on a sofa, laughing with some Senior Fellows, was the author Kingsley Amis, next to the brother of the soon-to-be-infamous Guy Burgess, who would shortly flee the country, outed as perhaps the most flamboyant of all the Cambridge spies—for whenever he was outrageously drunk in Washington, which was every night, he would announce loudly to everybody that he was a KGB spy. Nobody believed him”
― Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography