Quentin Crisp Quotes

The British do not expect happiness …. They do not want to be happy; they want to be right.

And I definitely do that very British thing of, take things with a pinch of salt, stiff upper lip, you know what I mean?

I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.

British people don't express when they are in pain. They don't think it's elegant.

Nobody can be happy all the time, and if you aim to be, ultimately you will never be happy.

I think the British people have a strong sense of what is fair.

If you optimize everything, you will always be unhappy.

I gave up my struggle with perfection a long time ago. That is a concept I don't find very interesting anymore. Everyone just wants to look good in the photographs. I think that is where some of the pressure comes from. Be happy. Be yourself, the day is about a lot more.

I'm quite British in the sense of not expressing my emotions much. I save it for my songs. If you ask about a death in the family, or a lover, I will not be emotional. I'd probably answer with a smile. Because that's what we British blokes do.

Looking for the perfect day is not going to make us happy, because that day isn't going to come.

I know that there's people that have expectations of me, and I'm a people pleaser, so I want them to be happy.

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

Artists that are perfectionists? We find it hard sometimes to be happy a lot.

I need to learn to be happy and enjoy the achievement rather than already thinking about what I could have done better.

Girls are almost always socialized to be perfect: 'Smile, do well in school, don't take too many risks.'

We try so hard to be excellent and only want the best of the best but, instead of the greatest day ever, try to have a good one.

What's so useful about the British culture of politeness is the level of passive aggression is really fun to write.

It's a very ancient culture, British culture. You can't be seen to be too wealthy, and you certainly can't be seen to be giving away any of your wealth either because that's sort of vulgar, too. It's funny, that, because in New York, if you are wealthy, you have to be philanthropic to be successful.

I'm a perfectionist. I want everything done right. When it's not done right, I'm not happy.

Righteousness is on our side.

I'm English. All we do is blush.

People feel like they have to live up to being perfect or have a perfect life or be perfectly happy, and it just makes them more unhappy.

It is not that the Englishman can't feel-it is that he is afraid to feel. He has been taught at his public school that feeling is bad form. He must not express great joy or sorrow, or even open his mouth too wide when he talks-his pipe might fall out if he did.

A person of “good character” was one who acted in accordance with the expectations of his community

When I stopped wanting my New Year's Eve to be perfect, to bring in the New Year right, is when it started working out right. When I was young, I was always looking for the best party to be at, to ring in the New Year, and I always ended up in the car going, "Happy New Year."