Quotes by John Cleese

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play”

“Graham Chapman, co-author of the "Parrot Sketch", is no more. He has ceased to be. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He's kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his...”

“It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand. ~ Brian Stimpson, Clockwise ”

“The idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is what I absolutely do not subscribe to.”

“Because, as we all know, its easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And its also easier to do little things we know we can...”

“This is the extraordinary thing about creativity: If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.”

“You do realize as you grow older that almost nobody knows what they are talking about.”

“He who laughs most, learns best”

“One of our professors described a lecture as 'a mystical process by which the notes on the pad of the lecturer pass on to the pad of the student, without passing through the mind of either'.”

“The problem was that I carried around with me a tendency to feel that other peoples respect for me would vanish if what I did was second rate. And while I accept that this perfectionism is likely t...”

“It seemed as though he had a fundamental belief that the merit of his argument depended on the strength of his feelings about the matter, and since he always felt uncontrollably passionate about ev...”

“Why write about the past? Well, there's more of it.”

“Terry Gilliam has spoken scathingly about my preference for physical comfort. I have come to the conclusion that this is very much his problem.”

“The sad thing about true stupidity is that you can do absolutely nothing about it.”

“I was always a sports nut but I've lost interest now in whether one bunch of mercenaries in north London is going to beat another bunch of mercenaries from west London.”

“I can't tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family, it's like going to somebody else's Christmas dinner, everyone knows everyone, and you're there and you're...”

“If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?”

“He who laughs most, learns best.”

“If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge it...”

“Michael Palin decided to give up on his considerable comedy talents to make those dreadfully tedious travel shows. Have you ever tried to watch one?”