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Of course I lie to people. But I lie altruistically - for our mutual good. The lie is the basic building block of good manners. That may seem mildly shocking to a moralist - but then what isn't?

Quentin Crisp

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Quentin Crisp
Age: 90 †
Born: 1908
Born: December 25
Died: 1999
Died: November 21
Actor
Autobiographer
Film Actor
Graphic Designer
Model
Socialite
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Writer
Sutton
London
Daniel Pratt
Denis Charles Pratt
Building
Mildly
Courses
Moralist
Course
Shocking
Lying
Mutual
Seems
Manners
May
Block
Good
Basic
People
Seem

More quotes by Quentin Crisp

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I don't really act. I say the words the way I would say them if I meant them.
Quentin Crisp
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Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
Quentin Crisp
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It is true that in America I've become a national hero, but really I was a hopeless case, that was all.
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I am told that you regret not what you did but what you didn't do and so that's why I do everything, so as not to have any regrets.
Quentin Crisp
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Britain cherishes her eccentrics and wisely holds that the function of government is to build a walled garden in which anarchy can flourish.
Quentin Crisp
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Never sweep. After four years the dirt gets no worse.
Quentin Crisp
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It's written into the Constitution that you're allowed to pursue happiness. In England it would be considered a frivolous objective.
Quentin Crisp
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Manners are a way of getting what you want without appearing to be an absolute swine.
Quentin Crisp
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Ask yourself, if there was to be no blame, and if there was to be no praise, who would I be then?
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The rest of the world in which I lived was still stumbling about in search of a weapon with which to exterminate this monster [homosexuality] whose shape and size were not yet known or even guessed at. It was thought to be Greek in origin, smaller than socialism but more deadly, especially to children.
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When asked, 'Shall I tell my mother I'm gay?', I reply, 'Never tell your mother anything.
Quentin Crisp
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Exhibitionism is like a drug. Hooked in adolescence I was now taking doses so massive they would have killed a novice.
Quentin Crisp
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Vice is its own reward.
Quentin Crisp
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When I was young, I wanted to find the Great Dark Man. When I said that I realise now that people thought that by 'dark' I meant black, and that by 'great' I meant big. Whereas I only meant a strong, mysterious person someone who would 'take me away from all this.'
Quentin Crisp
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What would you be like if you were the only person in the world? If you want to be truly happy you must be that person.
Quentin Crisp
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In England, nobody's your friend.
Quentin Crisp
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The law is simply expediency wearing a long white dress.
Quentin Crisp
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The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.
Quentin Crisp
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I came first to America in 1977 at the invitation of a man who wanted to make my life story into a musical. But my agent said it was not to be and it was never done. So I went back, but I'd seen New York, and I wanted to live there. Because everybody talks to you in the street. See, nobody talks to you in England.
Quentin Crisp
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You will survive if you believe in yourself.
Quentin Crisp