Quotes by Jarry, Alfred

"We shall not have succeeded in demolishing everything unless we demolish the ruins as well. But the only way I can see of doing that is to use them to put up a lot of fine, well-designed buildings."

Jarry, Alfred on destructiveness   

"Blind and unwavering undisciplined at all times constitutes the real strength of all free men."

Jarry, Alfred on discipline   

"God is the tangential point between zero and infinity."

Jarry, Alfred on god   

"We believe that the applause of silence is the only kind that counts."

Jarry, Alfred on applause   

"It is because the public are a mass -- inert, obtuse, and passive -- that they need to be shaken up from time to time so that we can tell from their bear-like grunts where they are -- and also where they stand. They are pretty harmless, in spite of their numbers, because they are fighting against intelligence."

Jarry, Alfred on audiences   

"You're looking exceptionally ugly tonight, Madam, is it because we have company?"

Jarry, Alfred on socializing and socialism   

"It is conventional to call monster any blending of dissonant elements. I call monster every original inexhaustible beauty."

Jarry, Alfred on taste   

"The virtue of dress rehearsals is that they are a free show for a select group of artists and friends of the author, and where for one unique evening the audience is almost expurgated of idiots."

Jarry, Alfred on theater   

"The theater, bringing impersonal masks to life, is only for those who are virile enough to create new life: either as a conflict of passions subtler than those we already know, or as a complete new character."

Jarry, Alfred on theater   

"To keep up even a worthwhile tradition means vitiating the idea behind it which must necessarily be in a constant state of evolution: it is mad to try to express new feelings in a mummified form."

Jarry, Alfred on tradition