Brendan Behan Quotes

“A general bit of shooting takes the mind off the cost of living.”

“A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him.”

“A quotation in a speech, article or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks with authority.”

“At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one's lost self.”

“Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves.”

“Every man, through fear, mugs his aspirations a dozen times a day.”

“Fame is failure disguised as money.”

“If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it.”

“If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke.”

“Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.”

“Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis.”

“People who ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly.”

“Politicians, like prostitutes, are held in contempt. But what man does not run to them when he needs their services?”

“Pound notes are the best religion in the world.”

“The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it.”

“The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs a lot less.”

“When I came back to Dublin I was court martialed in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.”