163 Quotes by Peter Ustinov

The stupidity of a stupid man is exercised in a restricted field; the stupidity of an intelligent man has a much wider diffusion, and a far greater effect, aided as it is by the element of surprise.

When I was small, I would refuse to drink when I ate fish because I thought the fish would reconstitute itself in my stomach

I have Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, French and Ethiopian blood in my veins.

The young need old men. They need men who are not ashamed of age, not pathetic imitations of themselves. ... Parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth.

Toronto is a kind of New York operated by the Swiss.

All the hideously calculated hypocrisy of men when they commit a murder in the name of justice. Then it's the time of death on a grander scale, the hour of the great offenses - fix your bayonets boys - gentlemen, synchronize your watches - in ten seconds time the barrage starts, ... a thousand men are destined to die in order to capture a farmhouse no one has lived in for years.

Basically I'm a very serious person, but I think the form it takes with me is comedy. I see the amusing side of all potentially pompous situations.

Sex is a conversation carried out by another means.

What is education but a process by which a person begins to learn how to learn?