Quotable Coward

Quotable Coward

Noël CowardI don’t believe in astrology. The only stars I can blame for my failures are those that walk about the stage.

I’ve sometimes thought of marrying – and then I’ve thought again.

I’m not a heavy drinker; I can sometimes go for hours without touching a drop.

My importance to the world is relatively small. On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous. I am all I have to work with, to play with, to suffer and to enjoy. It is not the eyes of others that I am wary of, but my own. I do not intend to let myself down more than I can possibly help, and I find that the fewer illusions I have about myself or the world around me, the better company I am for myself.

Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.

Many years ago, I remember a famous actress explaining to me with perfect seriousness that before making an entrance she always stood aside to allow God to go on first. I can also remember that on that particular occasion He gave a singularly uninspired performance.

Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward
Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward

I have always paid income tax. I object only when it reaches a stage when I am threatened with having nothing left for my old age – which is due to start next Tuesday or Wednesday.

I have a memory like an elephant. In fact, elephants often consult me.

When you ask creative people how they create things, they can’t help but feel a little guilty. They didn’t create anything; they just pieced together bits of what they had seen before.

On drama critics: “I have always been very fond of them. I think it is so frightfully clever of them to go night after night to the theatre and know so little about it.”