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

—Charlie Chaplin

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About Charlie Chaplin

Portrait of Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, singer, film editor and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the...

More quotations from Charlie Chaplin

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

—Charlie Chaplin

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In the end, everything is a gag.

—Charlie Chaplin

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

—Charlie Chaplin

More quotations tagged with “comedy”

It's the American view that everything has to keep climbing: productivity, profits, even comedy. No time for reflection. No time to contract before another expansion. No time to grow up. No time to fuck up. No time to learn from your mistakes. But that notion goes against nature, which is cyclical. And I hope I'm now beginning a new cycle of energy and creativity. If so, it'll really be my third career. The first was as a straight comic in the Sixties. The second was as a counterculture performer in the Seventies. The third will be…well, that's for others to judge.

—George Carlin

USA comedy commentary

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

—Charlie Chaplin

life tragedy comedy

With a stop light, green means 'go' and yellow means 'slow down'. With a banana, however, it is quite the opposite. Yellow means 'go', green means 'whoa, slow down', and red means 'where the heck did you get that banana?

—Mitch Hedberg

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I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

—George Carlin

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The only rules comedy can tolerate are those of taste, and the only limitations those of libel.

—James Thurber

comedy taste libel