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.”

“One should also remember that the U.S. is the biggest exporter of torture weapons in the world, though the U.K. is not far behind in the league table. We never stopped, even under Robin Cook's supposedly ethical foreign policy.”

“My father was a tailor. He worked from seven o'clock in the morning until seven at night. At least when he got home, my mother always cooked him a very good dinner. Lots of potatoes, I remember; he used to knock them down like a dose of salts. He needed it, after a 12-hour day.”

“The Room I wrote in 1957, and I was really gratified to find that it stood up. I didn't have to change a word.”

“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.”

“It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.”

“Occasionally it does hit me, the words on a page. And I still love doing that, as I have for the last 60 years.”

“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.”

“The Companion of Honour I regarded as an award from the country for 50 years of work - which I thought was okay.”

“This particular nurse said, Cancer cells are those which have forgotten how to die. I was so struck by this statement.”

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

“There's a tradition in British intellectual life of mocking any non-political force that gets involved in politics, especially within the sphere of the arts and the theatre.”

“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.”

“I could be a bit of a pain in the arse. Since I've come out of my cancer, I must say I intend to be even more of a pain in the arse.”

“Cricket, the whole thing, playing, watching, being part of the Gaieties, has been a central feature of my life.”

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

“Good writing excites me, and makes life worth living.”

“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.'”

“I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either.”

“Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.”