Peter Shaffer
Peter Shaffer
Sir Peter Levin Shaffer, CBEwas an English playwright and screenwriter of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been turned into films...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth15 May 1926
Peter Shaffer quotes about
fixated followers oblivious
The conquistadors and their followers were very rough people, and they were fixated on gold and silver. They were oblivious to the astonishing achievements of the Inca civilisation.
acts original public remarkable seen york
I've seen the most remarkable thing. It's in the New York Public Library. They've got the original typescript of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' - all four acts of it.
brought discussion faith gently jewish orthodox
I was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household. I don't think I ever had a single discussion with my parents about faith. It was just something gently imposed.
sole
Things rust, you know, like the heart. My cardiologist said, 'It's a pump; use it - that's the sole advice I've got to give you.' It's the same in playwriting. Don't theorise about it. Do it.
began danger england great invasion poland september state thereafter time war
We... our war began September the 3rd 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany, and thereafter the great state of danger in England at that time, with the bombings, necessitated the evacuation of children.
caused sensation
In London, 'Equus' caused a sensation because it displayed cruelty to horses; in New York, because it allegedly displayed cruelty to psychiatrists.
music rhetoric verbal
The rhetoric is the key to the character. It's the verbal music of the piece.
childhood london adolescence
My actual childhood, as opposed to my adolescence, was not spent in London.
two tragedy different
Tragedy, for me, is not a conflict between right and wrong, but between two different kinds of right.
champion world saint
I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint.
imagination leave-me-alone never-quit
You never quite know what's going to strike your imagination, or something that won't going to leave you alone, not going to leave alone, and this was one for me.
daddy devil made
The Devil isn’t made by what Mommy says, or what Daddy says. The Devil is there.
mines
You have your words, and I have mine.
frustration accomplices my-own
I was an accomplice in my own frustration.