John Cleese Quotes

You don't have to be the Dalai Lama to tell people that life's about change.
John Cleese

Life, Change, Tell

If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?
John Cleese

The really good idea is always traceable back quite a long way, often to a not very good idea which sparked off another idea that was only slightly better, which somebody else misunderstood in such a way that they then said something which was really rather interesting.
John Cleese

Good, Long, Said

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
John Cleese

Time, Give, Enough

I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that's to get rid of all my other desires.
John Cleese

Used, Desire, Desires

A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people.
John Cleese

True, Laughter, Wonderful

Sci-fi has never really been my bag. But I do believe in a lot of weird things these days, such as synchronicity. Quantum physics suggests it's possible, so why not?
John Cleese

Why, Days, Possible

A man will give up almost anything except his suffering.
John Cleese

Give, Suffering, Almost

He who laughs most, learns best.
John Cleese

Best, Laughs, Learns

I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.
John Cleese

Business, Find, Rather

But then acting is all about faking. We're all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.
John Cleese

Good, Acting, Competence

The English contribution to world cuisine - the chip.
John Cleese

English, Chip, Cuisine

If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.
John Cleese

Truth, Laugh, Makes

Comedy always works best when it is mean-spirited.
John Cleese

Best, Comedy, Works

Don't let anyone tell you what you ought to like... Some wines that some experts think are absolutely exquisite don't appeal to me at all.
John Cleese

Tell, Anyone, Appeal

I can't tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family, it's like going to somebody else's Christmas dinner, everyone knows everyone, and you're there and you're not quite sure what you're supposed to be doing.
John Cleese

Family, Christmas, Else

I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker, who was such a warm, friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from.
John Cleese

Great, Death, Sad

If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking 'Do you want fries with that?'
John Cleese

Life, Living, Making

The most creative people have this childlike facility to play.
John Cleese

Play, Creative, Childlike

When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.
John Cleese

Great, Writing, Sometimes

England is a fairly envious little country and it's embodied in the press. They don't like anyone being more distinguished than they are.
John Cleese

Country, Anyone, Press

Filming takes a lot out of you. It really does. It's immensely demanding, and you have to put the rest of your life in the icebox until you do your final shot.
John Cleese

Life, Put, Until

For me, the great problem growing up in England was that I had a very narrow concept of what God can be, and it was damn close to an old man with a beard.
John Cleese

Great, God, Problem

God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered.
John Cleese

God, Powerful, Father

I can never do better than Fawlty Towers whatever I do. Now I very much want to teach young talent some rules of the game.
John Cleese

Game, Young, Whatever

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Biography

Nationality: English

Type: Actor

Born: October 27, 1939

Links

Find on Amazon: John Cleese

Cite this Page: Citation

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