Noel Coward
Noel Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Cowardwas an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise"...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth16 December 1899
thinking years play
It's no use to go and take courses in playwriting any more than it's much use taking courses in acting. Better play to a bad matinee in Hull - it will teach you much more than a year of careful instruction. Come to think of it, I never did play to a good matinee in Hull . . .
years perfect acting
Many years ago I remember a famous actress explaining to me with perfect seriousness that before making an entrance she always stood aside to allow God to go on first. I can also remember that on that particular occasion He gave a singularly uninspired performance.
loyalty years careers
Fifty-four years of love and tenderness and crossness and devotion and unswerving loyalty. Without her I could have achieved a quarter of what I have achieved, not only in terms of success and career, but in terms of personal happiness.
cafe society
It was not Cafe Society, it was Nescafe Society.
careful grill mixed
Sunburn is very becoming, but only when it is even - one must be careful not to look like a mixed grill
pleasure rather sand
There's sand in the porridge and sand in the bed, / And if this is pleasure we'd rather be dead.
known
I've over-educated myself in all the things I shouldn't have known at all
audience love mind somebody work
Put somebody you love in the audience in your mind and work for them,
began believe life since talent
I believe that since my life began / The most I've had is just / A talent to amuse.
bump learn lines
Learn the lines and don't bump into the furniture.
dance leave tomorrow
Dance, dance, dance little lady, / Leave tomorrow behind.
age age-and-aging endure expensive four horse love months refuse rocking
I refuse to endure months of expensive humiliation only to be told that at the age of four I was in love with my rocking horse
best loves somebody
But it must be somebody who loves you. The best was my father, or Harry.
achieved bad days dearly direction drive elderly happy inside lack love man moments natural occupation resilience rest sleeps stick unhappy willing
He sleeps and sleeps, and the days go by, ... I love him dearly and for ever, but this lack of drive in any direction is a bad augury for the future. I am willing and happy to look after him for the rest of my life, but he must do something. If only he would take up some occupation and stick to it. I know that he is unhappy inside but, alas, with his natural resilience these moments of self-revelation dissipate and on go the years, and he will be an elderly man who has achieved nothing at all.