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The audiences like to think that satire is doing something. But, in fact, it is mostly to leave themselves satisfied. Satisfied rather than angry, which is what they should be.

Tom Lehrer

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Tom Lehrer
Age: 96
Born: 1928
Born: April 9
Lyricist
Mathematician
Pianist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
University Teacher
New York City
New York
Thomas Andrew Lehrer
Thomas Lehrer
Thinking
Angry
Like
Leave
Audience
Rather
Fact
Satire
Facts
Audiences
Something
Mostly
Think
Satisfied

More quotes by Tom Lehrer

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If I can't get people to commit themselves on whether or not there is a square root of two, then I won't touch on God or anything here
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And we will all go together when we go. What a comforting fact that is to know. Universal bereavement, An inspiring achievement, Yes, we will all go together when we go.
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I'm very proud of myself on my, whatever the literacy is, I'm pretentious, totally pretentious. I like to say 'hmm', for example.
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Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!
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I feel that if a person has problems communicating the very least he can do is to shut up.
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Oh we will all fry together when we fry. We'll be french fried potatoes by and by. There will be no more misery When the world is our rotisserie, Yes, we will all fry together when we fry.
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On my income tax 1040 it says 'Check this box if you are blind.' I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away.
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Once all the Germans were warlike and mean But that couldn't happen again We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen And they've hardly bothered us since then
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If the hoods don't get you, the monoxide will.
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It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.
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I'm not tempted to write a song about George W.Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them. And that's not funny.
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Don't write naughty words on the wall if you can't spell!
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For there is surely nothing more beautiful in this world than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly a half a ton of angry pot roast!
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The audience usually has to be with you, I'm afraid. I always regarded myself as not even preaching to the converted, I was titillating the converted.
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If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.
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Bad weather always looks worse through a window.
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But in the new (math) approach, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer.
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Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers.
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Filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder. When correctly viewed, everything is lewd.
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I've heard it quoted that I was dead. You can't believe anything you read. That was just an off-hand remark somebody picked up, and now it's been quoted and quoted, and therefore misquoted.
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