Noel Coward Quotes

I have always been very fond of them (drama critics) . . . I think it is so frightfully clever of them to go night after night to the theatre and know so little about it.

There are bad times just around the corner, There are dark clouds travelling through the sky, And it's no good whining, About a silver lining, For we know from experience they won't roll by...

I don't much care for Hollywood, I'd rather have a nice cup of cocoa.

I'm an enormously talented man, and there's no use pretending that I'm not.

Squash - that's not exercise, it's flagellation.

You always ought to have tom cats arranged, you know - it makes 'em more companionable.

Comedies of manners swiftly become obsolete when there are no longer any manners.

Marriage is the aftermath of love.

Here ends the story of a ship, but there will always be other ships, for we are an island race. Through all our centuries, the sea has ruled our destiny. There will always be other ships and men to sail in them. It is these men, in peace or war, to whom we owe so much. Above all victories, beyond all loss, in spite of changing values in a changing world, they give to us, their countrymen, eternal and indomitable pride.

In the first act, you get the audience's attention - once you have it, they will repay you in the second. Play through the laughs if you have to. It will only make the audience believe there are so many of them that they missed a few.

I never cared who scored the goal, or which side won the silver cup. I never learned to bat or bowl; but I heard the curtain going up.

It's never too early for a cocktail.

Good heavens, television is something you appear on; you don't watch.

Conceit is an outward manifestation of inferiority.

How about slipping out of those wet things and into a dry Martini?

I can take any amount of criticism, as long as it is unqualified praise.

Work hard, do the best you can, don't ever lose faith in yourself and take no notice of what other people say about you.

Just say the lines and don't trip over the furniture.

I have a memory like an elephant. In fact, elephants often consult me.

Mona Lisa looks as if she has just been sick, or is about to be.

Acting is not a state of being ... but a state of appearing to be. You can't be eight times a week without going stark staring mad. You've got to be in control.