Frasi di Dorothy Parker

pagina 6

“Epitaffio sulla tomba di Dorothy: "Scusate la polvere.”

“Ogni amore è l'amore di prima
In un vestito meno attraente.”

“Quando tu giuri che sei sua,
Con brividi e sospiri
E lui giura che la sua passione è
Infinita, immortale –
Signora, segnatelo:
Uno di voi mente.”

“Amo i Martini, ma due al massimo. Tre, e sono sotto al tavolo. Quattro, e sono sotto il cameriere.”

“Le traduzioni belle sono come le mogli carine: raramente sono fedeli.”

“Il dolore è la tranquillità ricordata con sentimento.”

“Il dispiacere è la tranquillità ricordata nell'emozione.”

“Il miglior amico di una ragazza è il suo borbottìo.”

“Io sono quel dannato tipo di persona che scrive a fatica sette parole e ne cancella cinque.”

“Katharine Hepburn è capace di recitare tutta la gamma delle emozioni dalla A alla B.”

“La frase più bella di tutte le lingue è: "Si allega assegno….”

“La moneta di Hollywood non è denaro. È neve congelata che si scioglie nelle tue mani, ecco tutto.”

“Los Angeles: settantadue sobborghi in cerca di una città.”

“Non si possono insegnare nuovi trucchi a un vecchio dogma.”

“Non è la tragedia che ci uccide, ma sono i disordini.”

“Perché, credete, nessuno mi ha mai mandato finora
Una perfetta limousine?
Ah, no, è proprio da me ricevere sempre
Una rosa perfetta.”

“Quattro sono le cose che a conoscerle mi hanno resa più saggia: l'ozio, il dolore, un amico, e un nemico.”

“Quella donna parla diciotto lingue ma in nessuna sa dire "No.”

“Tutti gli scrittori scrivono della loro infanzia! Se io scrivessi della mia non ti vorresti sedere nella stessa stanza con me.”

“Il rasoio fa male, | il fiume è troppo basso, | l'acido è bestiale, | la droga dà il collasso, | la corda si spezza, | la pistola è proibita, | il gas puzza, | allora viva la vita.”

“The play holds the season’s record, thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinée. By an odd coincidence, it ran just five performances too many. p. 121”

““Age Before Beauty.” “Pearls Before Swine.””

“Naturally, you know how you would feel on setting out to see a performance of Aucassin and Nicolette done by a company of little ones; you would strive to hurl yourself beneath the wheels of a friendly truck, on your way to the theatre. p. 233”

“The House Beautiful is, for me, the play lousy.”

“Writing a book for the Follies seems to be about as profitable an occupation as furnishing flannel petticoats for the showgirls. p. 151”

“I thought that was going to be a good song, too, and then they went and rhymed “time” and “Rhine,” and spoiled everything. p. 24”

“There is one thing that appreciably eases the strain for the plays that arrive at this time of year, and that is that practically nothing is expected of them. p. 306”

“Anyone can do that—the stunt lies in not doing it. p. 8”

“In short, there is everything about this season’s entertainment to make the Hippodrome what it always is—a Temple of the Arts to all those who hang pennants on their automobiles, use “Shake hands with my friend” as a formula for introduction, and sprinkle powdered sugar on their sliced tomatoes. p. 106”

“The management’s method of procedure is evidently to hire some well-known man to write the book, and then, as soon as it is written, to give it away to some deserving family, and go out and engage an assortment of specialty acts. p. 151”

“Mr. Hodge plays with his accustomed ease, even carrying the thing so far as to repeat many of his lines with his eyes shut; and in a pretty spirit of reciprocity, many members of the audience sit through the play with their eyes shut. p. 175”

“This use of soldiers to make a play popular seems too much like taking an unfair advantage of the uniform—hitting below the Sam Browne belt, as it were. p. 93”

“It takes me six months to do a story. I think it out and then write it sentence by sentence—no first draft. I can’t write five words but that I change seven.”

“To quote the only line of Gertrude Stein’s which I have ever been able to understand, “It is wonderful how I am not interested.””

“One more drink and I'd have been under the host.”

“So seeing that there is nothing further to say, I shall go right on talking about The Circle, thus proving that I am a born reviewer of plays. p. 256”

“72 suburbs in search of a city”

“How odd
Of God
To choose
The Jews”

“The ones I like … are "cheque" and "enclosed."”

“Bringing in a wounded soldier is getting to be rather like waving an American flag at the end of an act. One cannot harbor feelings of unmixed admiration for the playwright who will hide behind either of them. p. 250”

“Almost overnight, Dorothy Parker was transformed from a woman of letters into a gin-soaked quote machine, with a martini in one hand and a dagger in the other. p. xiii”