As soon as a person takes a part as a homosexual, the press says, "What do your wife and children think of this?" And the actor never says, "Well, last week I was a murderer, and the week before that I was a child molester, and the week before that I was a lunatic. But now I'm a homosexual."
Quentin CrispThe court was not previously aware of the prisoner's many accomplishments. In view of these, we see fit to impose the death penalty.
Quentin CrispI asked a girl who came from America to England, when I was only English, and she admitted she had been to a drama school. And I said, "What did they teach you?" And she said, "They taught me to be a candle burning in an empty room." I'm happy to say she was laughing while she said it, but she meant it. I've never learned to be a candle burning in an empty room. So I go on the screen, and I say whatever I'm told to say.
Quentin CrispAsk yourself, if there was to be no blame, and if there was to be no praise, who would I be then?
Quentin CrispI take it to be axiomatic that people are revolted by witnessing the shameless gratification of an appetite they do not share.
Quentin CrispMy outlook was so limited that I assumed that all deviates were openly despised and rejected. Their grief and their fear drew my melancholy nature strongly. At first I only wanted to wallow in their misery, but, as time went by, I longed to reach its very essence. Finally I desired to represent it. By this process I managed to shift homosexuality from being a burden to being a cause. The weight lifted and some of the guilt evaporated.
Quentin Crisp