649 Quotes by Tom Stoppard

I get the impression sometimes that a play arrives in a sequence of events that I have no control over.

I don't write at the library, because I smoke when I work or would like the possibility of a smoke. Also, I need to be at my own desk.

We are tied down to a language which makes up in obscurity what it lacks in style.

I don't think falling in love in Slovakia is much different from falling in love in Tunbridge Wells.

I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to the death your right to say it.

It takes a lot of effort to be vibrant.

Autumnal -- nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges of the day ... Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it ... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside edge of the senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth -- reflecting on itself and through itself, filtering the light. At such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere, by repute. Yesterday was blue, like smoke.

If an idea's worth having once, it's worth having twice.

What is the society we wish to protect? Is it the society of complete surveillance for the commonwealth? Is this the wealth we seek to have in common - optimal security at the cost of maximal surveillance?