Peter Ustinov Quotes

Good-bye to you too ol' Rights of Man!

We have fought two wars to end war. In 1976, the nations of this world set aside the same amount of money for its starving children as the lavished on armaments every two hours. Can any right-minded man afford to be a pessimist? That was a luxury for easier days.

Irrespective of nationality, soldiers are always open to the same discomfort and to the same comradeship the world over. I'll make things easy for you if you make things easy for me. That is, after all the unwritten law of the barracks.

I'd rather be buried at sea than on the shore when I come to die. Will you stand by the plank, mates, so I can shake a friendly hand before I sink?

To all those who by accident or design, have not been included in this book.

2nd Soldier: Do you mean that, as a General, you're not the tiniest bit ambitious for our military future? General: I prefer our military past. The harm's done and there it is. As for being a General, well, at the age of four with paper hats and wooden swords, we're all Generals. Only some of us never grow out of it.

Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our one duty is to furnish it well.

Pavarotti is not vain, but conscious of being unique.

I have four children which is not bad considering I'm not a Catholic.

Politicians only get to the top because they have no qualifications to detain them at the bottom.

Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.

To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal.

Life was cheap in the Middle Ages. It has become cheaper since. It is only in specific battles for specific lives that our culture is put to the test, and with it our humanity.

If Botticelli were alive today he'd be working for Vogue.

It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.