Quotes by John Osborne

About John Osborne:

John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, known for his excoriating prose and intense critical stance towards established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Heaven be thanked, we live in such an age when no man dies for love except upon the stage.

John Osborne

Here we are, we're alone in the universe, there's no God, it just seems that it all began by something as simple as sunlight striking on a piece of rock. And here we are. We've only got ourselves. Somehow, we've just got to make a go of it. We've onl...

John Osborne

Don't clap too hard - it's a very old building.

John Osborne

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 wi...

John Osborne

That voice that cries out doesn't have to be a weakling's does it?

John Osborne

To be as vehement as he is is to be almost non-committal.

John Osborne

In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea.

John Osborne

There's no such thing as failure - just waiting for success.

John Osborne

Heroes, whatever high ideas we may have of them, are mortal and not divine. We are all as God made us and many of us much worse.

John Osborne

Go on - but don't think you can kill my confidence. I've had experts doing it for years.

John Osborne

It is easy to answer the ultimate questions - it saves you bothering with the immediate ones.

John Osborne

I never deliberately set out to shock, but when people don't walk out of my plays I think there is something wrong.

John Osborne

It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man's desire. Indeed it will in a dull man.

John Osborne

It is not true that drink changes a man's character. It may reveal it more clearly.

John Osborne

Why do I do this every Sunday? Even the book reviews seem to be the same as last week's. Different books same reviews.

John Osborne

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs." [ , October 31, 1977]

John Osborne

The whole point of a sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place. People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say - or their beliefs - or sex.

John Osborne

They spend their time looking forward to the past.

John Osborne

Author Bio

  • NameJohn Osborne
  • DescriptionEnglish playwright and social rebel
  • BornDecember 12, 1929
  • DiedDecember 24, 1994
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionActor; Playwright; Screenwriter; Writer
  • WorksLook Back In Anger; Inadmissible Evidence