Kenneth Tynan Quotes

The greatest films are those which show how society shapes man. The greatest plays are those which show how man shapes society.

society

The buttocks are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the body because they are nonfunctional. Although they conceal an essential orifice, these pointless globes are as near as the human form can ever come to abstract art.

age

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

products tso-art work

I just stopped playing bitches on wheels and peoples' mothers. I have only a few more years to kick up my heels!

time

When a society has doubts about its future, it tends to produce spokesmen whose main appeal is to the emotions, who argue from intuitions, and whose claim to be truth-bearers rests solely on intense personal feeling.

doubt emotions rest society truth

A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.

thetimes time

A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car.

car man

All writing is an antisocial act, since the writer is a man who can speak freely only when alone; to be himself he must lock himself up, to communicate he must cut himself off from all communication; and in this there is something always a little mad.

man