Waiting For Godot Quotes

I belong to that generation who, as students, had before their eyes, and were limited by, a horizon consisting of Marxism, phenomenology and existentialism. For me the break was first Beckett’sВ Waiting for Godot, a breathtaking performance.

Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist? Vladimir: Yes, yes, we’re magicians.

Estragon: I can’t go on like this.
Vladimir: That’s what you think.

What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come

But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!

Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s awful.

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.

Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: ‘I’m waiting to win the lottery. I’m waiting to fall in love’. For me, as a child, it was Christmas. At least that eventually came.

What are we doing here, that is the question.

There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet.

We all are born mad. Some remain so.

Vladimir: I don’t understand. Estragon: Use your intelligence, can’t you? Vladimir uses his intelligence. Vladimir: (finally) I remain in the dark.

Let us do something, while we have the chance! … Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us!

Don’t touch me! Don’t question me! Don’t speak to me! Stay with me!

When we’d suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, ‘Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.’ As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing.

In the history and literature courses I took, epistemological questions came to interest me most. What makes one explanation of the French Revolution better than another? What makes one interpretation of “Waiting for Godot” better than another? These questions led me to philosophy and then to philosophy of science.

I saw Waiting for Godot when I was 17 in rep with a then unknown actor called Peter O’Toole playing Vladimir. I remember leaving the theatre promising myself that one day I would have a go at this play and then pretty much forgot it for 50 years.