Charlie Chaplin Quotes & Sayings

Simplicity is not a simple thing. — Charlie Chaplin

I don't need interesting camera angles, I am interesting. — Charlie Chaplin

I have found that great ideas come when you have a great desire to have them. — Charlie Chaplin

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

Nothing is more important than the moving image;
except for my cup of coffee in the morning. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

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

Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone — Charlie Chaplin

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

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

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. — Charlie Chaplin

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

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. — Charlie Chaplin

More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness. — Charlie Chaplin

The glamour of it all! New York! America! — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

Had I known of the actual horrors of the German concentration camps, I could not have made The Great Dictator, I could not have made fun of the homicidal insanity of the Nazis. — Charlie Chaplin

In the work of the greatest geniuses, humble beginnings will reveal themselves somewhere, but one cannot trace the slightest sign of them in Shakespeare ... I am not concerned with who wrote the works of Shakespeare ... but I can hardly think it was the Stratford boy. Whoever wrote them had an aristocratic attitude. — Charlie Chaplin

Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing. — Charlie Chaplin

Why should poetry have to make sense? — Charlie Chaplin

Sound has spoiled the most ancient of the world's arts, the art of pantomime, and has canceled out the great beauty that is silence. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it 'maturity'. — Charlie Chaplin

Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain. — Charlie Chaplin

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

Hair is vitally personal to children. They weep vigorously when it is cut for the first time; no matter how it grows, bushy, straight or curly, they feel they are being shorn of a part of their personality. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

To me all palaces are preposterous, a tasteless, dreary expression of ostentation. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage. — Charlie Chaplin

As long as men die, liberty will never parish. — Charlie Chaplin

I believe in the power of laughter and tears as an antidote to hatred and terror — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

When we got off the streetcar at Times Square, it was somewhat of a letdown. Newspapers were blowing about the road and pavement, and Broadway looked seedy, like a slovenly woman just out of bed. — Charlie Chaplin

I don't think the real America is in New York or on the Pacific Coast; personally, I like the Middle West much better, places like North and South Dakota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. There, I think, are the true Americans — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

Your Pain May Give Laugh To Somebody But Your Laugh Shouldn't Give Pain To Anybody — Charlie Chaplin

Friends have asked how I came to engender this American antagonism. My prodigious sin was, and still is, being a non-conformist. Although I am not a Communist I refused to fall in line by hating them. Secondly, I was opposed to the Committee on Un-American Activities - a dishonest phrase to begin with, elastic enough to wrap around the throat and strangle the voice of any American citizen whose honest opinion is a minority of one. — Charlie Chaplin

I'm an old sinner. Nothing shocks me. — Charlie Chaplin

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

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

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

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. — Charlie Chaplin

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

Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. — Charlie Chaplin

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

Unless I write every day, I don't feel I deserve my dinner. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

In the creation of comedy, it is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule; because ridicule, I suppose is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature - or go insane — Charlie Chaplin

Moving pictures need sound as much as Beethoven symphonies need lyrics, — Charlie Chaplin

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

Simplicity of approach is always best. — Charlie Chaplin

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

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 — Charlie Chaplin

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

If people know how it's done, all the magic goes. — Charlie Chaplin

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

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

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

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. — Charlie Chaplin

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 ...
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. — Charlie Chaplin

I do not wish to lose my temper because very shortly I will lose my head. Nevertheless, upon leaving this spark of earthly existence, I have this to say: I shall see you all very soon ... very soon. — Charlie Chaplin

Man is an animal with primary instincts of survival. Consequently his ingenuity has developed first and his soul afterwards. The progress of science is far ahead of man's ethical behavior. — Charlie Chaplin

Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate: only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers, 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! Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world ... — Charlie Chaplin

In the light of our egos, we are all dethroned monarchs — Charlie Chaplin

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

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

I am not a political man and I have no political convictions. I am an individual and a believer in liberty. That is all the politics I have. — Charlie Chaplin

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man. — Charlie Chaplin

Greed has poisoned men's souls — Charlie Chaplin

It isn't the ups and downs that make life difficult; it's the jerks. — Charlie Chaplin

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

In this book I do not intend to give a blow-by-blow description of a sex bout: I find them inartistic, clinical and unpoetic. The circumstances that lead up to sex I find more interesting. — Charlie Chaplin

Life salutes u when u make others happy — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

What can stars do? Nothing..But sit on their axis! — Charlie Chaplin

You will never find a rainbow if you are looking down — Charlie Chaplin

Over the years I have discovered that ideas come through an intense desire for them; continually desiring, the mind becomes a watchtower on the lookout for incidents that may excite the imagination. — Charlie Chaplin

All I need is the opportunity,' I said confidently. He smiled. 'Seventeen's very young, and you look even younger.' I shrugged off-handedly. 'That's a question of make-up.' Karno laughed. That shrug, he told Sydney later, got me the job. — Charlie Chaplin

I am known in parts of the world by people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. 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. We don't want to hate and despise one another. 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. — Charlie Chaplin

I like friends as I like music - when I am in the mood. — Charlie Chaplin

Anyone can make them cry, but it takes a genius to make them laugh. — Charlie Chaplin

There is greatness in everyone. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

In this desperate way, I started many a comedy. — Charlie Chaplin

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. — Charlie Chaplin

Tomorrow, the birds will sing. Be brave. Face life. — Charlie Chaplin

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

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

During my incarceration Mother visited me. She had in some way managed to leave the workhouse and was making an effort to establish a home for us. Her presence was like a bouquet of flowers; she looked so fresh and lovely that I felt ashamed of my unkempt appearance and my shaved iodined head.
'You must excuse his dirty face,' said the nurse.
Mother laughed, and how well I remember her endearing words as she hugged and kissed me: 'With all thy dirt I love thee still. — Charlie Chaplin

This is a story of a period between two World Wars - an interim in which insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose dive, and humanity was kicked around somewhat. — Charlie Chaplin

Simplicity is a difficult thing to achieve. — Charlie Chaplin

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

So when I cease to be I want to go back ... to the sea! Oh for the life of a sardine! That is the life for me! — Charlie Chaplin

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

Quebec from the boat looked like the ramparts where Hamlet's ghost might have walked. — Charlie Chaplin

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

The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. — Charlie Chaplin