John Osborne > Quotes

“Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs."

[Time Magazine, October 31, 1977]”
― John Osborne

“You're hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you can face it. Something's gone wrong somewhere, hasn't it?”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“That voice that cries out doesn't have to be a weakling's does it?”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy: The injustice of it is almost perfect! The wrong people going
hungry, the wrong people being loved, the wrong people dying!”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“You see I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry - angry and helpless. And I can never forget it. I knew more about - love... betrayal... and death, when I was ten years old than you will probably ever know in your life.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy: (in a low, resigned voice) They all want to scape from the pain of being alive. And, most of all, from love. (...) It's no good to fool yourself about love. You can't fall into it like a soft job, without dirtying up your hands.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“I suppose people of our generation aren't able to die for good causes any longer. We had all that done for us, in the thirties and the forties, when we were still kids. ...There aren't any good, brave causes left. (Jimmy Porter)”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy: One day, when I'm no longer spending my days running a sweet-stall, I may write a book about us all. It's all here. (slapping his forehead) Written in flames a mile high. And it won't be recollected in tranquillity either, picking daffodils with Auntie Wordsworth. It'll be recollected in fire, and blood. My blood.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“If you’ve no world of your own, it’s rather pleasant to regret the passing of someone else’s.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“A refined sort of butcher, a woman is.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy: I hope you won't make the mistake of thinking for one moment that I am a gentleman.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“ How I long for a little ordinary human enthusiasm. Just enthusiasm- that's all. I want to hear a warm, thrilling voice cry out Hallelujah! I'm alive! I've an idea. Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive. Just for a while. What do you say? Let's pretend we're human.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger”
― John Osborne

“It's no good fooling about with love you know. You can't fall into it like a soft job without dirtying up your hands. It takes muscle and guts. If you can't bear the thought of messing up your nice, tidy soul, you better give up the whole idea of life and become a saint, because you'll never make it as a human being. It's either this world... or the next.”
― John Osborne

“Laughter’s the nearest we ever get, or should get, to sainthood. It’s the state of grace that saves most of us from contempt.”
― John Osborne

“Anyone who's never watched somebody die is suffering from a pretty bad case of virginity. For twelve months, I watched my father dying - when I was ten years old.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Alison: I don't think I want anything more to do with love. Any more. I can't take it on.
Cliff: You're too young to start giving up. Too young, and too lovely.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Am impresia că toată viaţa mi-o petrec luându-mi rămas bun.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“I must say it's pretty dreary living in the American Age - unless you're an American of course. Perhaps all our children will be Americans.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Asking a working writer what he feels about critics is like asking a lamppost what it feels about dogs.”
― John Osborne, Inadmissible Evidence

“I may be a lost cause, but I thought if you loved me, it needn't matter.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy (to Allison):We'll be together in our bear's cave, and our squirrel's drey, and we'll live on honey, and nuts-lots and lots of nuts. And we'll sing songs about ourselves-about warm trees and snug caves, and lying in the sun. And you'll keep those big eyes on my fur, and help me keep my claws in order, because I'm a bit of a soppy, scruffy sort of a
bear. And I'll see that you keep that sleek, bushy tail glistening as it should, because you're a very beautiful squirre, but you're none too bright either, so we've got to be careful. There are cruel steel traps lying about everywhere, just waiting for rather mad, slightly satanic, and very timid little animals.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy: You'll end up like one of those chocolate merengues my wife is so fond of [Alison starts banging jars]...sweet and sticky on the outside, and sink your teeth in it [savouring every word]-inside, all white, messy and disgusting. [offering teapot sweetly to Helena] Milk?”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“Jimmy : The injustice of it is almost perfect! The wrong people going hungry, the wrong people being loved, the wrong people dying!”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“To be as vehement as he is is to be almost non-committal.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“There is no real communication with those we love most”
― John Osborne, Looking Back: Never Explain, Never Apologise

“Nobody thinks, nobody cares. No beliefs, no convictions and no enthusiasm. Just another Sunday evening.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“It is better to be a has-been than a never-was”
― John Osborne, Looking Back: Never Explain, Never Apologise

“Jimmy: They all want to escape from the pain of being alive. And, most of all,love.
It's no good trying to fool yourself about love. You can't fall into it like a soft job, without dirtying up your hands.It takes muscle and guts. And if you can't bear the thought of messing up your nice, clean soul- you'd better give up the whok idea of life, and because you'll never make it as a human being.
It's either this world or the next.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

“(Charles) Laughton was one of the most pugnaciously morose men I had ever met. His huge talent seemed to endorse his implacable resentment. His Caliban self-portraiture must have been further agnozied by being incarcerated, like so many of his unhappy generation, in that closet which dared not speak its name. Even his large collection of Klees and Kokoshchkas was displayed as trophies of martyrdom rather than joyful plunder.”
― John Osborne, Looking Back: Never Explain, Never Apologise