Alfred Jarry Quotes

Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) is known for Ubu Roi (1896), a parody of Macbeth. Jarry was a French writer, who is considered a father of the Theatre of the Absurd. Here are a few quotes from Alfred Jarry.

• "Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations."
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• "Blind and unwavering undisciplined at all times constitutes the real strength of all free men."
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• "God is the tangential point between zero and infinity."
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• "It is conventional to call 'monster' any blending of dissonant elements. I call 'monster' every original inexhaustible beauty."
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• "Laughter is born out of the discovery of the contradictory."
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• "The theater, bringing impersonal masks to life, is only for those who are virile enough to create new life: either as a conflict of passions subtler than those we already know, or as a complete new character."
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• "The virtue of dress rehearsals is that they are a free show for a select group of artists and friends of the author, and where for one unique evening the audience is almost expurgated of idiots."
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• "To keep up even a worthwhile tradition means vitiating the idea behind it which must necessarily be in a constant state of evolution: it is mad to try to express new feelings in a "mummified" form."
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• "We shall not have succeeded in demolishing everything unless we demolish the ruins as well. But the only way I can see of doing that is to use them to put up a lot of fine, well-designed buildings."
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• "You're looking exceptionally ugly tonight, Madam, is it because we have company?"
  - Alfred Jarry