Eric Idle quotes
Born
29 March 1943 South Shields, County Durham, UK.
Occupation
Comedian, actor, author.
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python.
I like the idea of being out there regularly with an audience and with a funny gang of people. That’s what I grew up with – doing television, doing shows every week.
– Eric Idle
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours.
– Eric Idle
Life is a comedy when watching and a tragedy when experiencing. I try and share anything I have.
– Eric Idle
I’m drawn to things that aren’t particularly popular at the time. I don’t know why.
– Eric Idle
Life took over 4 billion years to evolve into you, and you’ve about 70 more years to enjoy it. Don’t just pursue happiness, catch it.
– Eric Idle
I listen to the audience and try and bounce with them. All audiences are different. But they are all homo sapiens.
– Eric Idle
Americans like to think ‘Python’ is how English people really are. There is an element of truth to that.
– Eric Idle
Probably spending 12 years at boarding school – comedy became a survival gene. But I think some people are funny right off the bat, as soon as they can speak or be naughty.
– Eric Idle
The dreadful thing about getting older is you cry at the drop of a hat.
– Eric Idle
To me, the musical is best when it’s a musical comedy. So if you have a very, very funny show, and very good, funny songs, that’s what the musical does best.
– Eric Idle
I do pool exercises, like weightlifting but underwater. I walk, I swim… I’m pretty fit for an old bloke.
– Eric Idle
– Eric Idle
If the studios paid the artists, how would they ever be able to afford the executives?
– Eric Idle
I won’t read scripts because I have a limited amount of time. Why should I help other people do lame stuff when I can just go out and put on lame stuff of my own?
– Eric Idle
I like being a foreigner. For me, to live in California is very pleasant – I’m more comfortable not feeling a part of everything, not feeling responsible for the government or the roads or the health system.
– Eric Idle
Talent is always more interesting – ambition is not interesting. If you have talent, you have to find ways of expressing it, but you may not be a success in the world’s terms.
– Eric Idle
I will jump on anybody’s private plane at the drop of a hat. I’m an old-fashioned lower-middle-class boy.
– Eric Idle
I love stage work. The thing about plays is that they’re perfectible. With film, you shoot that take and maybe another. During ‘Spamalot,’ I rewrote Act II three times.
– Eric Idle
The Minister of Transport issued this appeal to motorists: Can anyone give him a lift to Leicester?
– Eric Idle
I have been very blessed in my life and rewarded with good friends and good health. I am grateful and happy to be able to share this.
– Eric Idle
People can tell the truth much more freely when they’re apparently lying.
– Eric Idle
John Cleese once told me he’d do anything for money. So I offered him a pound to shut up, and he took it.
– Eric Idle
I’ve always found bad films more enjoyable than good ones.
– Eric Idle
I think the special thing about Python is that it’s a writers’ commune. The writers are in charge. The writers decide what the material is.
– Eric Idle
At least in America, you have freedom of speech, which is a good thing. It’s just a question of whether you’re allowed to use it on ‘Fox News’.
– Eric Idle
I love my family, my wife, my kids, my dogs, my home, my life. I am a very happy and contented man.
– Eric Idle
No day of my life passes without someone saying the words ‘Monty Python’ to me. It’s not bad.
– Eric Idle
I was thrilled to win a Tony in 2005 for ‘Spamalot’.
– Eric Idle
It’s such fun to take a lot of people and create something silly.
– Eric Idle
I’m more surprised than anyone that ‘Spamalot’s done so well. You can never predict what’s going to be a hit.
– Eric Idle
Nobody gets irony anymore, as we are now living in the post-ironic age. Once George Bush gets a library, our irony is dead.
– Eric Idle
A website can be very time-intensive, but I’d love to have one where people can contribute to it – like invent islands and make their own flags, and their own laws. I think that’d be kind of fun.
– Eric Idle
You look just like you!
– Eric Idle
I never think in terms of target audience. I try to write what makes me laugh, so I’m the target audience. I guess I just hope there’s another person in America like me.
– Eric Idle