Noel Coward Quotes

(speaking of Oscar Wilde) "It is extraordinary indeed that such a posing, artificial old queen should have written one of the greatest comedies in the English language!"

"Comedies of manners swiftly become obsolete when there are no longer any manners" "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun."

(to Peter O`Toole) "If you`d been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia."

"Everybody worships me, it`s nauseating."

"Extraordinary how potent cheap music is"

"I never care who scored the goal, or which side won the silver cup- I never learned to bat or bowl- But I heard the curtain going up."

(when ask what he thought about his Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) co-star) "Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow."

"Wit is like caviar - it should be served in small portions and not spread about like marmalade."

"Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs."

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 of 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.

(In a telegram to Gertrude Lawrence upon her marriage to Richard Aldrich): "Dear Mrs. A Hooray! Hooray! You finally are de-flowered. I love you now and every day. Sincerely, Noel Coward."

Last Words: "Good night my darlings. I`ll see you in the morning."

"I don`t much care for Hollywood, I`d rather have a nice cup of cocoa."

"My life really has been one long extravaganza."

"The day when I shall begin to worry is when the critics declare: `This is Noël Coward`s greatest play.` But I know they bloody well won`t."

"I can accept anything in the theatre provided it amuses me or moves me. But if it does neither,I want to go home."

"(MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer) ordered Nelson Eddy to marry. Eddy agreed, but he didn`t want a virgin bride or some insatiable creature, and Mayer understood. Sometimes the least sexual marriages last the longest, so long as it`s mutual ... Mayer found him an older divorcée who`d been married to a movie director - she was wise to the ways of Tinseltown, she was not sexually demanding or needful, and she was well-pleased to live the comfortable life of a movie star`s wife."

(on Sophia Loren) She should have been sculpted in chocolate truffles so that the world could devour her.

(on A.E. Matthews) He bumbled through the play like a charming retriever who has buried a bone and can`t quite remember where.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

Television is for appearing on - not for looking at.

The higher the buildings, the lower the morals.

I am not a heavy drinker. I can sometimes go for hours without touching a drop.