Harold Pinter Quotes

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Harold Pinter

Profession : Dramatist

Birth : October 10, 1930

All I'm saying is that there are many different kinds of political theatre and many plays I greatly admire: 'Antigone,' 'Mother Courage,' 'All My Sons.' But, if I tackle a political theme, I have to do it in my own way.

Harold Pinter

I always start a play by calling the characters A, B, and C.

Harold Pinter

I am absolutely not saying that Milosevic might not be responsible for all sorts of atrocities, but I believe that what's been left out of public debate and the press is that there was a civil war going on there.

Harold Pinter

Only by the sweat of my own brow. I am a totally working man.

Harold Pinter

I certainly feel sad about the alienation from my son.

Harold Pinter

I don't idealise women. I enjoy them. I have been married to two of the most independent women it is possible to think of.

Harold Pinter

Things like Abu Ghraib and even Guantanamo are not new things: there are many precedents.

Harold Pinter

There was one man in the Labour government, Robin Cook, whom I had a very high regard for. He had the courage to speak out and to resign over Iraq. He was an admirable man. But resignation over a matter of principle is not a very fashionable thing in our society.

Harold Pinter

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I've written 29 damn plays. Isn't that enough?

Harold Pinter

I don't make judgments about my own work, and I don't analyze it; I just let it happen. That applies to everything I've done.

Harold Pinter

I do tend to think that I've written a great deal out of my unconscious because half the time I don't know what a given character is going to say next.

Harold Pinter

I'm always the interrogator. When I was an actor in rep, I always played sinister parts. The directors always said, 'If there's a nasty man about, cast Harold Pinter.'

Harold Pinter

The whole brunt of the media and the government is to encourage people to be highly competitive and totally selfish and uncaring of others.

Harold Pinter

The effect of depleted uranium, used by America in the Gulf War, is never referred to.

Harold Pinter

I'll tell you something, and this is true: I've never been able to write a film which I didn't respect. I just can't do it. I'm very happy about all the films I haven't done.

Harold Pinter

It's such a delicate business, the structure of film, isn't it? What happens if a scene is not there but two minutes later? It's an eternal, never-ending search, actually, which is very exciting. It really is.

Harold Pinter

No one wanted me to be a conscientious objector. My parents certainly didn't want it. My teacher and mentor, Joe Brearley, didn't want it. My friends didn't want it. I was alone.

Harold Pinter

Many Americans, we know, are horrified by the posture of their government but seem to be helpless.

Harold Pinter

A character on stage who can present no convincing argument or information as to his past experience, his present behaviour or his aspirations, nor give a comprehensive analysis of his motives, is as legitimate and as worthy of attention as one who, alarmingly, can do all these things.

Harold Pinter

I'm well aware that I have been described in some quarters as being 'enigmatic, taciturn, prickly, explosive and forbidding'. Well, I have my moods like anyone else; I won't deny it.

Harold Pinter