Charlie Chaplin Quotations

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

We think too much and feel too little.

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles.

Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

The glamour of it all! New York! America!

This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.

To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery.

I have no further use for America. I wouldn't go back there if Jesus Christ was President.

Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

We might as well die as to go on living like this.

All my pictures are built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.

Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.

To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.

All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.

A tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.

I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.

Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.

I suppose that's one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

I am for people. I can't help it.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves.

Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.

The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.

Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone

A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.

What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head.

Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'.

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

I'd sooner be called a successful crook than a destitute monarch.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.

What do you want meaning for? Life is desire, not meaning!

You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.

Life is a beautiful, magnificent thing, even to a jellyfish. ... The trouble is you won't fight. You've given up. But there's something just as inevitable as death. And that's life. Think of the power of the universe — turning the Earth, growing the trees. That's the same power within you — if you'll only have the courage and the will to use it.

As for politics, I’m an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can’t stand caged animals. People must be free.

My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody's pain.

Your naked body should only belong to those who fall in love with your naked soul.

Smile, though your heart is aching. Smile, even though it's breaking. When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by if you smile through your pain and sorrow. Smile and maybe tomorrow, you'll see the sun come shining through for you.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health - food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is Love of Oneself.

More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness

Life can be wonderful if you're not afraid of it. All it takes is courage, imagination ... and a little dough

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But as I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection "WISDOM OF THE HEART"...

In Philadelphia, I inadvertently came upon an edition of Robert Ingersoll's Essays and Lectures. This was an exciting discovery; his atheism confirmed my own belief that the horrific cruelty of the Old Testament was degrading to the human spirit.

Simplicity is not a simple thing.

There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.

Beauty is an omnipresence of death and loveliness, a smiling sadness that we discern in nature and all things, a mystic communion that the poet feels.

Life is laughter when seen in a long shot, but it is a tragedy when seen in a close-up.

Life laughs at you when you are unhappy; Life smiles at you when you are happy; But life salutes you when you make other happy.

I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.

In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

Judge a man not by how he treats his equals but by how he treats his inferiors.

The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.

That's what all we are: amateurs. We don't live long enough to be anything else.

Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

You need Power, only when you want to do something harmful otherwise Love is enough to get everything done.

Dictators free themselves by enslaving others. They work not for your benefit, but their own.

...The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in; machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity, more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost.

Brunettes are troublemakers. They're worse than the Jews.

My character of the Tramp, the millions of workers symbolized in that one figure.

I hope we shall abolish war and settle all differences at the conference table I hope we shall abolish all hydrogen and atom bombs before they abolish us first.

The rights of citizenship will be taken away from all Jews and other non-Aryans. They are inferior and therefore enemies of the state. It is the duty of all true Aryans to hate and despise them.

You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure..

Imagination means nothing without doing.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

The best thing in life is to go ahead with all your plans and your dreams, to embrace life and to live everyday with passion, to lose and still keep the faith and to win while being grateful. All of this because the world belongs to those who dare to go after what they want. And because life is really too short to be insignificant.

Have them all shot. I don't want any of my workers dissatisfied.

Think about yourself at least once in your life otherwise you may miss the best comedy in this world.

You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.

Life is a play that does not allow testing. So, sing, cry, dance, laugh and live intensely, before the curtain closes and the piece ends with no applause.

That's the trouble with the world. We all despise ourselves.

Don't be afraid of the unknown because, even when they wander into chaos, planets are born stars!

my lips never know my problem they just always smile

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is "AUTHENTICITY".

The mirror is my best friend because when I cry it never laughs.

In the end, everything is a gag.

Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.

Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.

It seems to me that my mother was the most splendid woman I ever knew... I have met a lot of people knocking around the world since, but I have never met a more thoroughly refined woman than my mother. If I have amounted to anything, it will be due to her.

Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for LIBERTY! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

My prodigious sin was, and still is, being a non-conformist.

I have Many Problems in My Life. But my leaps don`t know that. They always smile

I will not join any club who will take me as a member.

The building is a special place because of its architecture; But it's people who make it special by participating in it.

Simplicity is a difficult thing to achieve.

They cheer me because they all understand me, and they cheer you because no one understands you.

Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat.

By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none.

You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down

Why should poetry have to make sense?

The Kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you!