Top 275 Quotes by Tom Stoppard

Fatherlessness didn't strike me as being an event. It was a state of life.

I think I give the impression of being a romantic, and I think inside I'm quite severe. But some might say they had the opposite impression of me.

If I see an actor in a role that is really terrifying, no matter how many times I meet him socially, I'm still frightened of him. I think he's going to hit me.

I think probably I've been influenced by Chekhov and Walt Disney, if you see what I mean.

I wish I could remember how to write a play. I can't remember how they happened.

I am good at being shown something and counterpunching.

The thing that happens remarkably often is that the people who are writing a dissertation believe they need to speak to me in order to do their dissertation. They need to interview me.

I get the impression sometimes that a play arrives in a sequence of events that I have no control over.

A publisher many years ago asked if I'd like to write a novel for £50. And I said, 'Absolutely.'

It was a different planet in 1967, the Broadway theatre. It had a little ashtray clamped to the back of every seat and the author got 10% of the gross.