Peter Ustinov (1921 – 2004)
Born Peter Alexander von Ustinov, was an Academy Award-winning English-German actor, writer, dramatist and raconteur.
It's wrong to flog a man. It's against his being a man.
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.
Her virtue was that she said what she thought, her vice that what she thought didn't amount to much.
It's hot. And there's a lot of it. I like everything about it except the flavor.
It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously.
Good-bye to you too ol' Rights of Man!
Then he lifted his body up
To throw himself to a watery grave
"Peter," I yelled
"What about Billy Budd
The innocent no one could save?"
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.
In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.
Corruption is nature's way of restoring our faith in democracy.
Flogging. The only solution to every problem. I warrant even the culprit himself doesn't know! It was just — his turn!
I was walking barefoot on St. Paul's bridge
When I saw a man talking to God
He was round and handsome
Anachronistically
A little odd
I overheard his conversation
He said, "I can't live in a world devoid of love."
And the voice, the voice was so familiar
It was the voice of Peter Ustinov
"Peter," I whispered from the shadows
"We've all been damaged by the 20th century
A man like you can talk to God
But can you spare a word for me?
For I have loved you since the time
I saw you in The Mouse that Roared."
"That was Peter Sellers, my dear.
Go away," he implored.
The day had to come when he'd be gone. Thank God it was a long time coming. But he's a big thing to do without.
The truth is really an ambition which is beyond us.
Critics search for ages for the wrong word, which, to give them credit, they eventually find.
He was one of the great story tellers of modern times. The biggest shame is that we have so few people left these days who really tell stories.
Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth.
Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
He had an extraordinarily varied career. He had enough careers for about six other men. He was an actor, director, writer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, did all that work for the United Nations as well. ... He always said that he acted for a living and wrote because he must, but I am convinced that he also performed because he must.
I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilized music in the world.