Chekhov was capable of casually tossing off deplorable comments in his letters, combined with a very modern anger against anti-Semitism. -Tom Stoppard Anger
In January 1962, when I was the author of one and a half unperformed plays, I attended a student production of 'The Birthday Party' at the Victoria Rooms in Bristol. Just before it began, I realised that Harold Pinter was sitting in front of me. -Tom Stoppard Birthday
I was an awful critic. I operated on the assumption that there was an absolute scale of values against which art could be measured. I didn't trust my own subjective responses. -Tom Stoppard Trust
I think I give the impression of being a romantic, and I think inside I'm quite severe. But some might say they had the opposite impression of me. -Tom Stoppard Romantic
I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead. -Tom Stoppard Respect
A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. -Tom Stoppard Health
What is the society we wish to protect? Is it the society of complete surveillance for the commonwealth? Is this the wealth we seek to have in common - optimal security at the cost of maximal surveillance? -Tom Stoppard Society
Like almost everything else from the West, the Romantic Revolution arrived late in Russia. -Tom Stoppard Romantic
That I have the right to express myself freely at all times in all circumstances entails the idea that free speech is a 'basic human right' possessed by each individual, and, as such, trumps the interests of the society or group, including my neighbour. -Tom Stoppard Society
I want to support the whole idea of the humanities and teaching the humanities as being something that - even if it can't be quantitatively measured as other subjects - it's as fundamental to all education. -Tom Stoppard Education
It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it's a painting, and if you can walk around it it's a sculpture. -Tom Stoppard Art
Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art. -Tom Stoppard Imagination
My intention still is to write a play to commemorate, possibly rather skeptically, the 50th anniversary of the Russian revolution. I started it at the beginning of 1966, but confronted with the enormous importance and reality of that revolution, I absolutely boggle. I don't know what to do about it. -Tom Stoppard Anniversary
A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. -Tom Stoppard Attitude
Although I don't examine myself in this respect, I would say, off the top of my head, that I've come to acknowledge my Czechness more as I get older. -Tom Stoppard Respect
I think... the history of civilization is an attempt to codify, classify and categorize aspects of human nature that hardly lend themselves to that process. -Tom Stoppard History
