Quentin Crisp quotes

Quentin Crisp, an iconic English writer, performer, and raconteur, captivated audiences with his unique persona and unapologetic style. Born in 1908, Crisp became a symbol of self-expression and authenticity. Known for his wit and distinct appearance, he enlightened society about gender fluidity and challenged conventional norms. Crisp, celebrated for his autobiography "The Naked Civil Servant," embraced his eccentricities, which resonated with countless individuals globally. Through his work, he became a catalyst for conversations surrounding LGBTQ+ acceptance and individuality. With his timeless insights, Crisp's legacy continues to inspire generations to embrace their true selves. Join us as we explore the life and impact of Quentin Crisp, an emblem of genuine selfhood and acceptance.

Living en famille provides the strongest motives for rudeness combined with the maximum opportunity for displaying it.

- Quentin Crisp

In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.

- Quentin Crisp

Nothing more rapidly inclines a person to go into a monastery than reading a book on etiquette. There are so many trivial ways in which it is possible to commit some social sin.

- Quentin Crisp

It is explained that all relationships require a little give and take. This is untrue. Any partnership demands that we give and give and give and at the last, as we flop into our graves exhausted, we are told that we didn't give enough.

- Quentin Crisp

An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last installment missing.

- Quentin Crisp

Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone- but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding.

- Quentin Crisp

For flavor, instant sex will never supersede the stuff you have to peel and cook.

- Quentin Crisp

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.

- Quentin Crisp

Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.

- Quentin Crisp

The trouble with children is that they're not returnable.

- Quentin Crisp

Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.

- Quentin Crisp

The law is simply expediency wearing a long white dress.

- Quentin Crisp

When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?

- Quentin Crisp

To know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.

- Quentin Crisp

Abatement in the hostility of one's enemies must never be thought to signify they have been won over. It only means that one has ceased to constitute a threat.

- Quentin Crisp

The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another.

- Quentin Crisp

The poverty from which I have suffered could be diagnosed as "Soho" poverty. It comes from having the airs and graces of a genius and no talent.

- Quentin Crisp

My mother protected me from the world and my father threatened me with it.

- Quentin Crisp

Manners are love in a cool climate.

- Quentin Crisp

There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.

- Quentin Crisp

Sex is the last refuge of the miserable.

- Quentin Crisp

The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person. I would describe this method of searching for happiness as immature. Development of character consists solely in moving toward self-sufficiency.

- Quentin Crisp

I simply haven't the nerve to imagine a being, a force, a cause which keeps the planets revolving in their orbits and then suddenly stops in order to give me a bicycle with three speeds.

- Quentin Crisp

Decency must be an even more exhausting state to maintain than its opposite. Those who succeed seem to need a stupefying amount of sleep.

- Quentin Crisp

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can't think what to do with the long winter evenings.

- Quentin Crisp

You fall out of your mother's womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave.

- Quentin Crisp

Life was a funny thing that happened to me on the way to the grave.

- Quentin Crisp

However low a man sinks he never reaches the level of the police.

- Quentin Crisp

The formula for achieving a successful relationship is simple: you should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.

- Quentin Crisp

Men get laid, but women get screwed.

- Quentin Crisp