Samuel Beckett 1906–89
Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet 

1. We could have saved sixpence. We have saved fivepence. (Pause) But at what cost?
   All That Fall (1957)
2. Perhaps my best years are gone…but I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire that's in me now.
   Krapp's Last Tape (1959)
3. There is no use indicting words, they are no shoddier than what they peddle.
   Malone Dies (1958)
4. His writing is not about something; it is that something itself.
   on James Joyce
   Our Exagmination Round the Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress (1929)
5. To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.
   Proust (1961)
6. You must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on.
   The Unnamable (1959)
7. Nothing to be done.
   Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
8. There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.
   Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
9. One of the thieves was saved. (Pause) It's a reasonable percentage.
   Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
10. estragon: Charming spot. Inspiring prospects. Let's go.
    vladimir: We can't.
    estragon: Why not?
    vladimir: We're waiting for Godot.
    
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
11. Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
12. He can't think without his hat.
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
13. vladimir: That passed the time.
    estragon: It would have passed in any case.
    vladimir: Yes, but not so rapidly.
    
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 1
14. They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more.
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 2
15. The air is full of our cries. (He listens) But habit is a great deadener.
    Waiting for Godot (1955) act 2
16. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
    Worstward Ho (1983)
17. I couldn't have done it otherwise, gone on I mean. I could not have gone on through the awful wretched mess of life without having left a stain upon the silence.
    Deirdre Bair Samuel Beckett (1978)
18. interviewer: You are English, Mr Beckett?
    beckett: Au contraire.
    
    attributed
19. Even death is unreliable: instead of zero it may be some ghastly hallucination, such as the square root of minus one.
    attributed