Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976 Quotes

“I was mad of course and still am, but harmless, I passed for harmless, that's a good one. Not of course that I was really mad, just strange, a little strange, and with every passing year a little stranger, there can be few stranger creatures going about than me at the present day.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“But mostly not for nothing never quite for nothing even stillest night when air too still for even the lightest leaf to sound no not to sound to carry too still for even the lightest leaf to carry the brief way here and not die the sound not die on the brief way the wave not die away.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“He sometimes halted without saying anything. Either he had finally nothing to say or while having something to say he finally decided not to say it.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“...this evening it's too late, too late to get things right, I'll go to sleep, so that I may say, hear myself say, a little later, I've slept, he's slept, but he won't have slept, or else he's sleeping now, he'll have done nothing, nothing but go on, doing what, doing what he does, that is to say, I don't know, giving up, that's it, I'll have gone on giving up, having had nothing, not being there.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“That is why nothing appears, all is silent, one is frightened to be born, no, one wishes one were, so as to begin to die.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“There's my life, why not, it is one, if you like, if you must, I don't say no, this evening. There has to be one, it seems, once there is speech, no need of a story, a story is not compulsory, just a life, that's the mistake I made, one of the mistakes, to have wanted a story for myself, whereas life alone is enough.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“Where would I go, if I could go, who would I be, if I could be, what would I say, if I had a voice, who says this, saying it's me? Answer simply, someone answer simply.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“Noh, see on mu elu, miks mitte, see ta on, kui sulle nii meeldib, kui sa just pead, täna õhtul ma vastu ei vaidle. Peab ju olema, tundub, niivõrd kui on ju kõne, loo järele pole vajadust, lugu pole kohustuslik, ainult elu, see ongi viga mille tegin, üks vigadest – tahta endale lugu –, samas kui elust endast piisab täiesti. Ma teen edusamme, oli ka aeg, õpin oma rumalat suud kinni hoidma enne kui minuga otsad on, kui mitte midagi ennustatut ei juhtu. Aga tema? Tema, kes aina tuleb ja läheb, ilma igasuguse abita, aina kohast kohta, kuigi temaga mitte midagi ei juhtu, tõsi, kuidas jääb temaga? Mina jään igatahes siia, istuma, kui ma parasjagu istun, tunnen tihti end istuvat, mõnikord seisvat, see on ikka emb või kumb, või maas lamamine, see on ka võimalus, tihti avastan end ka maas lamamas, ikka ja jälle üks neist kolmest, või põlvitamas. Mis loeb, on olla maailmas, asend pole oluline, niikaua kui viibitakse Maal. Vaja on ainult hingata, pole kohustust ringi luusida või külalisi vastu võtta, sa võid end soovi korral ka surnuks pidada ilma sellest numbrit tegemata. Millist vabamat elukorda võiks kujutleda, ma ei tea, ma ei kujutle.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“Monstrous extremities including skulls stunted legs and trunks monstrous arms stunted faces.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“Light heat all known all white heart breath no sound.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“...nothing ever as much as begun, nothing ever but nothing and never, nothing ever but lifeless words.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“Name, no, nothing is namable, tell, no, nothing can be told, what then, I don't know, I shouldn't have begun.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“...then much, then little, then nothing.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976

“With a cluther of limbs and organs, all that is needed to live again, to hold out a little time, I'll call that living, I'll say it's me, I'll get standing, I'll stop thinking, I'll be too busy, getting standing, staying standing, stirring about, holding out, getting to tomorrow, tomorrow week, that will be ample, a week will be ample, a week in spring, that puts the jizz in you.”
― Samuel Beckett, Texts for Nothing and Other Shorter Prose 1950-1976