Frases de Peter Ustinov

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“Es de importancia fundamental aprender cada año más que el año anterior.”

“Humor es simplemente un arte extraño, como para ser serio.”

“La mayoría de las personas tienen miedo a la muerte porque aún no han hecho nada en su vida.”

“Lamento que la vida sea tan corta. Por otro lado, sería horroroso sí la vida fuera muy larga.”

“Un filósofo es un hombre que por falta de una mujer abraza a todo el mundo.”

“La última voz que se escuche antes de que explote el mundo será la de un experto diciendo: es técnicamente imposible.”

“Soy un militante incorregible del optimismo. Para no ser un estúpido, el optimista debe saber que el mundo puede ser un sitio muy triste. Sólo un pesimista encuentra cada día lo más nuevo. ¿Puede un hombre sensato darse el lujo de ser pesimista? Eso era un lujo para tiempos menos complicados.”

“El pueblo judío no solo a suministrado al mundo dos líderes de la talla de Jesucristo y Karl Marx, sino que se ha permitido el lujo de no seguir a uno ni a otro.”

“Desde edad temprana dominé el arte de imitar voces, un arte al que me acerqué de manera instintiva e inconvencional. Finalmente empecé a imitar a un papagayo, lo cual es inusual, ya que los papagayos imitan usualmente a los hombres. Cuando se emprende la iniciativa, no le queda otro remedio al papagayo, que ser el mismo, con lo cual se demuestra de nuevo que la mejor defensa es el ataque.”

“El dinero corrompe, sobre todo a aquellos que no lo tienen.”

“El éxito más hermoso no es aquel que llega como un gato casero domado, sino aquel que hay que aprender a domar y forzar como un caballo salvaje.”

“El inglés ama el sentimiento de poder reír de sí mismo. El lo hace sólo para alegrar a los demás, de reír sobre él.”

“El valor es a menudo una carencia de conocimiento, mientras que la cobardía suele basarse en buenas informaciones.”

“En estos tiempos, un diplomático no es más que un jefe de camareros a quien, de cuando en vez, se le invita a sentarse.”

“Los ancianos son peligrosos puesto que no le tiene temor al futuro.”

“La infancia es una época maravillosa, en la que a los hermanos se les regala sarampión de presente de cumpleaños.”

“La juventud es algo maravilloso, lástima que se desperdicie en los hijos.”

“La religión dice “debes amar a tu prójimo”. Estoy seguro que la religión no conoce a mi prójimo.”

“Los diplomáticos son personas a las que no les gusta decir lo que piensan. A los políticos no les gusta pensar lo que dicen.”

“Los ingleses tienen tantos deportes porque cuando otro país les derrota, inventan uno nuevo.”

“Nadie sabe el sentido de la vida. De cualquier modo tiene poco sentido ser el hombre más rico del cementerio.”

“No creo que los amigos sean necesariamente la gente que más te gusta, son meramente la gente que estuvo allí primero.”

“Quiero vivir tanto como sea válido mi pasaporte. Sería estúpido si estuviera muerto y mi pasaporte fuera aún válido.”

“Si Botticelli viviera hoy, trabajaría para Vogue.”

“Un científico no sólo tiene la obligación de investigar, sino que también tiene la resposabilidad ética sobre las consecuencias de aquello que produce su ingenio.”

“Se ha convertido en hábito elegir a un presidente por su falta de vicios y no por sus virtudes. La existencia de vicios se pone de manifiesto cuando empieza a mandar.”

“Puesto que estamos destinados a vivir nuestras vidas en la prision de nuestra mente, al menos amueblémosla bien.”

“Para llegar a la verdad, el alemán suma, el francés resta, y el inglés cambia de tema.”

“No puedo adherirme a una bandera si no sé quién la lleva.”

“Gracias a las películas, el fuego de pistola siempre me ha sonado irreal, incluso cuando me han disparado.”

“El estilo es una forma de mentir. Es el ornamento que esconde la estructura.”

“Flogging. The only solution to every problem. I warrant even the culprit himself doesn't know! It was just — his turn!”

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

“The social sciences were for all those who had not yet decided what to do with their lives, and for all those whose premature frustrations led them into the sterile alleys of confrontation.”

“Pavarotti is not vain, but conscious of being unique.”

“You know Seymour, there are some men who cannot stand too much perfection. They see it as a disease, which must be stamped out at its first rash showing.”

“In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.”

“Laughter would be bereaved if snobbery died.”

“Claggert: We must serve the law, sir, or give up the right and privilege of service. It is only within that law that we may use our discretions according to our rank.
Captain Vere: You're so intelligent and so lucid for the rank you hold, Master At Arms.
Claggert: I thank you, sir.
Captain Vere: Yes, that's no flattery, Mr. Claggart. It's a melancholy fact. It's sad to see such qualities of mind bent to such a sorry purpose. What's the reason for it?
Claggert: I am what I am, sir. And what the world has made me.
Captain Vere: The world? The world demands that behind every peacemaker there be the gun, the gallows, the jail. Do you think it will always be so?
Claggert: I have no reason not to, sir.
Captain Vere: You live without hope?
Claggert: I live.
Captain Vere: But remember, Mr. Claggart, that even the man who wields the whip cannot defy the code we must obey and not be broken by it. That will be all.”

“I'm Rally of Unionist Separist Extremes, sometimes known as the R. U. S. E. … It's the party at present in power.”

“There is no question but that if Jesus Christ, or a great prophet from another religion, were to come back today, he would find it virtually impossible to convince anyone of his credentials despite the fact that the vast evangelical machine on American television is predicated on His imminent return among us sinners.”

“Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them.”

“I have Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, French and Ethiopian blood in my veins.”

“Sex is a conversation carried out by other means.”

“Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy.”

“Basically I'm a very serious person, but I think the form it takes with me is comedy. I see the amusing side of all potentially pompous situations.”

“The truth is really an ambition which is beyond us.”

“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.”

“Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find.”

“Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.”

“I'm convinced there's a small room in the attic of the Foreign Office where future diplomats are taught to stammer.”

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

“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?”

“Billy Budd: You didn't even hate him. I think that sometimes you hate yourself. I was thinking, sir, the nights are lonely. Perhaps I could talk with you between watches when you've nothing else to do.
Claggert: Lonely. What do you know of loneliness?
Billy Budd: Them's alone that want to be.
Claggert: Nights are long. Conversation helps pass the time.
Billy Budd: Can I talk to you again, then? It would mean a lot to me.
Claggert: Perhaps to me, too. [His expression suddenly sours] Oh, no. You would charm me too, huh? Get away.”

“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.”

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

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

“I hate being moved. I hate that man who came in. So self-righteous, so cruel. He made fun of me, that's why I cried. You never did that. You led me into temptation by your — politeness.”

“The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come.”