Peter Ustinov Quotes - Page 3

Unfortunately, a superabundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares

Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.

Books, I don't know what you see in them. I can understand a person reading them, but I can't for the life of me see why people have to write them.

In my day, there were things that were done, and things that were not done, and there was even a way of doing things that were not done.

Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.

The truth is really an ambition which is beyond us.

Did you know that the worldwide food shortage that threatens up to five hundred million children could be alleviated at the cost of only one day, only one day, of modern warfare.

If Botticelli were alive today he'd be working for Vogue.

The French and the British are such good enemies that they can't resist being friends.

The only reason I made a commercial for American Express was to pay for my American Express bill.

Flogging. The only solution to every problem. I warrant even the culprit himself doesn't know! It was just... his... turn!

Love is an act of endless forgiveness. It means forget inconvenient duties, then forgive yourself for forgetting. By rigid practice and stern determination, it comes easy.

Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn't amount to much.

Life was cheap in the Middle Ages. It has become cheaper since. It is only in specific battles for specific lives that our culture is put to the test, and with it our humanity.

Monica Seles: I'd hate to be next door to her on her wedding night.

That weakness in human nature which goes by the name of strength.

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.

The great thing about history is that it is adaptable.

As I grow older I find that though I think I'm saying the same things as I always did, people listen to me more.

Two members of my profession who are not urgently needed by my profession, Mr. Ronald Reagan and Mr. George Murphy, entered politics, and they've done extremely well. Since there has been no reciprocal tendency in the other direction, it suggests to me that our job is still more difficult than their new one.

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.

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.

This is a free country, madam. We have a right to share your privacy in a public place.

Sometimes I wish I could just fall in love. Then, at least you know who your opponent is.

I had started by imitating a parrot, which is unusual, in that a parrot is supposed to imitate you. By taking the initiative you allow the parrot no alternative but to be itself, which proves again that attack is often the best defence.