Quotes from Eugene Ionesco

Man in fact is petty: the problem of death is a human problem. A cow doesn't think about death. A cow isn't petty

All doctors are quacks. And all patients too. Only the Royal Navy is honest in England.

Vivons notre vie, soyons heureux. Nous avons le devoir d'être heureux.

PUPIL: Are the roots of words square? PROFESSOR: Square or cube. That depends. PUPIL: I've got a toothache.

PROFESSOR: Good, let's go on. I tell you, let's go on . . . How would you say, for example, in French: the roses of my grandmother are as yellow as my grandfather who was Asiatic?

Do rhinoceroses cough?

Si no se comprende la utilidad de lo inútil, la inutilidad de lo útil, no se comprende el arte. Y un país en donde no se comprende el arte es un país de esclavos o de robots, un país de gente desdichada, de gente que no ríe ni sonríe, un país sin espíritu; donde no hay humorismo, donde no hay risa, hay cólera y odio.

There is no reason for anything. If I knew, if I could see, could understand, I should return to silence and night. I think that if what impels me to live could be explained to me I should stop living.

But you'll never become a rhinoceros, really you won't ... you haven't got the vocation!

Un país en donde no se comprende el arte es un país de esclavos o de robots, un país de gente desdichada, de gente que no ríe ni sonríe, un país sin espíritu; donde no hay humorismo, donde no hay risa, hay cólera y odio.

How bizarre, curious, strange! Then, madam, we live in the same room and we sleep in the same bed, dear lady. It is perhaps there that we have met!

dve stvari su za mene neprihvatljive: biti ro?en i onda umreti. samo to nisam tražio, i to nikako ne prihvatam.

Good men make good rhinoceroses, unfortunately. It's

If we have to have motors to help us fly, it's no longer natural. People call this progress, but there's nothing progressive about walking with crutches. Soon we shall forget to walk, too, if we don't look out.

Il sera une page dans un livre de dix mille pages que l'on mettra dans une bibliothèque qui aura un million de livres, une bibliothèque parmi un million de bibliothèques.

Il y a une chose que je ne comprends pas. Pourquoi à la rubrique de l'état civil, dans le journal, donne-t-on toujours l'âge des personnes décédées et jamais celui des nouveaux-né? C'est un non-sens.

Les morts sont plus nombreux que les vivants. Leur nombre augemente. Les vivants sont rares.

Mon oncle, que Dieu ait son âme, était l'ivrogne officiel du village. Il s'y engageait en chancelant. Il criait : « Mon Dieu, je vous en prie, laissez-moi passer, je ne boirai plus jamais. » Mais, quand il arrivait sur l'autre rive, il dansait, il chantait, il criait : « Je boirai encore. Ah, ah, ah! »

Ve den som vil bevare sitt særpreg!

Deocamdat?, nu avem decât siguranÈ›a unei autenticit??i; aceea a inautenticit??ii noastre. A fi autentic înseamn? a te tr?da fa?? de o sum? infinit? de tr?iri posibile.

My heart's like a wounded beast, clawing me in its death-throes . . . My stomach's a bottomless pit, my mouth a funnel of fire. Hunger and thirst, hunger and thirst . . .

The fear of death was my truest shield. Now the walls have collapsed. And here I am, defenseless, exposed to the blazing inferno of life, and in the freezing grip of despair. I wanted life and life has hurled itself at me. It's crippling me, killing me. Why didn't I have the sense to welcome resignation? All my old scars have opened, my wounds are bleeding again. Thousands of knives are driving into my flesh.

Is she still just a shadow of the shadow of herself? Is it just a leaf? Is it just the wind? Or is it just the quiver of a wish? Just the whisper of a tear down my face? 1st KEEPER: That's it. Just a sigh from her lips.

Publicul românesc este dezorientat, sugestibil, capricios, înzestrat cu un gust dubios [...] orice carte lansat? pe pia??, bun? sau rea este un mare risc, o aventur? care, adesea, poate duce falimentul sau bog??ia. Psihologia publicului nostru nu cunoaÈ™te nicio lege în afara de legea capriciului