Quote

The Americans are so much more positive. They are much more in love with success. In Britain, they're a fairly envious bunch, and they love it if you fail.

John Cleese

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

John Cleese
Age: 85
Born: 1939
Born: October 27
Actor
Autobiographer
Comedian
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Screenwriter
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Voice Actor
Writer
Weston-super-Mare
Somerset
John Marwood Cleese
Success
Envious
Much
Fairly
Love
Britain
Bunch
Fail
Americans
Failing
Positive

More quotes by John Cleese

Image
When you've been doing comedy for forty years, you really do know most of the jokes. And even if you don't know a specific joke, you can pretty much guess what it's going to be.
John Cleese
Image
I was a terrible dancer. I dance like an Englishman.
John Cleese
Image
The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else.
John Cleese
Image
I'm very odd 'cause I think there's more than just a materialist planet, a materialist, reductionist planet.
John Cleese
Image
As Daniel Levitin writes, our brain is a giant pattern detector. If we read something that coincides with what we already believe we're more likely to give it credence, while the opposite is not true.
John Cleese
Image
Come to me. I want to plow you like a Calgary driveway at Christmas.
John Cleese
Image
Life is a terminal disease, and it is sexually transmitted.
John Cleese
Image
When I was in school, I was beaten every 30 minutes. It never did me any harm except for some psychological mal-adjustments and blurred vision.
John Cleese
Image
I can certainly see that you know your wine. Most of the guests who stay here wouldn't know the difference between Bordeaux and Claret.
John Cleese
Image
Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.
John Cleese
Image
If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?
John Cleese
Image
If you really don't know where to start or if you're stuck, start generating random connections and allow your intuition to tell you if one might lead somewhere interesting.
John Cleese
Image
I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.
John Cleese
Image
It’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve.
John Cleese
Image
If you are leaping a ravine, the moment of takeoff is a bad time for considering alternative strategies... Do it in the 'closed' mode. But the moment the action is over, try to return to the 'open' mode... because in that mode we are the most aware, most receptive, most creative, and therefore at our most intelligent.
John Cleese
Image
There are 3 basic differences between we British and you Americans. One, we speak English, and you don't. Two, when we have a World Championship, we invite teams from other nations. Three, when you meet the British head of State, you only have to get down on one knee.
John Cleese
Image
It's a plastic surgeon you need, not a doctor
John Cleese
Image
No hope for planet at all. But I will be gone before the planet is gone, so it's your problem.
John Cleese
Image
I think there are so many activities going on, like mountaineering. You know, you would pay good money not to have to do that, and yet there are people racing out who want to spend their spare time clambering up rocks.
John Cleese
Image
I could take an umbrella and balance it on my chin or on my foot. And I just got interested in that kind of thing. And as I played games more and more and got stronger physically, I just became more coordinated.
John Cleese