I’m always the interrogator. When I was an actor in rep, I always played sinister parts. The directors always said, ‘If there’s a nasty man about, cast Harold Pinter.’ – Harold Pinter
There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false. – Harold Pinter
One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness. – Harold Pinter
All I can say is that I did admire ‘The Lives of Others’, which I thought was really about something and beautifully done. – Harold Pinter
I find the whole Blairish idea more and more repugnant every day. ‘New Labour’: the term itself is so trashy. Kind of ersatz. – Harold Pinter
Analysis I take to be a scientific procedure. What I do is creative. It doesn’t spring from the same part of the mind. – Harold Pinter
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’ve written 29 damn plays. Isn’t that enough? – Harold Pinter
I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either. – Harold Pinter
I mean, don’t forget the earth’s about five thousand million years old, at least. Who can afford to live in the past? – Harold Pinter
Political theatre presents an entirely different set of problems. Sermonising has to be avoided at all cost. Objectivity is essential. The characters must be allowed to breathe their own air. The author cannot confine and constrict them to satisfy his own taste or disposition or prejudice. – Harold Pinter
This particular nurse said, Cancer cells are those which have forgotten how to die. I was so struck by this statement. – Harold Pinter
My father was a tailor. He worked from seven o’clock in the morning until seven at night. At least when he got home, my mother always cooked him a very good dinner. Lots of potatoes, I remember; he used to knock them down like a dose of salts. He needed it, after a 12-hour day. – Harold Pinter
If Milosevic is to be tried, he has to be tried by a proper court, an impartial, properly constituted court which has international respect. – Harold Pinter
I found the offer of a knighthood something that I couldn’t possibly accept. I found it to be somehow squalid, a knighthood. There’s a relationship to government about knights. – Harold Pinter
It’s such a delicate business, the structure of film, isn’t it? What happens if a scene is not there but two minutes later? It’s an eternal, never-ending search, actually, which is very exciting. It really is. – Harold Pinter
Clinton’s hands remain incredibly clean, don’t they, and Tony Blair’s smile remains as wide as ever. I view these guises with profound contempt. – Harold Pinter
My second play, The Birthday Party, I wrote in 1958 – or 1957. It was totally destroyed by the critics of the day, who called it an absolute load of rubbish. – Harold Pinter
No one wanted me to be a conscientious objector. My parents certainly didn’t want it. My teacher and mentor, Joe Brearley, didn’t want it. My friends didn’t want it. I was alone. – Harold Pinter
I do tend to think that I’ve written a great deal out of my unconscious because half the time I don’t know what a given character is going to say next. – Harold Pinter
Many Americans, we know, are horrified by the posture of their government but seem to be helpless. – Harold Pinter
