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There is a quote; Chaplin responding to a question of how it feels to be the second funniest comedian responds "Chaplin is not a comedian, he's a fucking ballerina." I heard this from John Lewis' Oregon State University film studies class.

And so what?

There seems to be some sort of a contradiction between the Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton Wikiquote articles.... Chaplin is quoted as saying, "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot." Keaton: "Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot." Either one of them heard this quote from the other, thought it was witty, and decided to do a bit of sly paraphrasing and claim the quote for himself...or someone here on Wikiquote misattributed a quote to Chaplin or Keaton. Could someone clear this up for me?

Unsourced

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Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Charlie Chaplin.

  • You need Power, only when you want to do something harmful, otherwise Love is enough to get everything done.
  • A day without laughter is a day wasted.
    • Variant: The most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed.
    • Similar statements have also been attributed to others, including E. E. Cummings
  • Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves.
  • All my pictures are built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.
  • Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.
  • Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of oneself.
    • Variant: Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.
  • I am applauded, because everybody understands me; you are applauded, because nobody understands you.
    • addressed to Albert Einstein
  • I am known in parts of the world by people who have never heard of Jesus Christ.
  • I consider myself a citizen of the world!
    • On why he had never become a U.S. citizen.
  • 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.
  • I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.
  • I have no further use for America. I wouldn't go back there if Jesus Christ was President.
    • After difficulties in being re-admitted to the United States, based on suspicions of communist sympathies.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In the end, everything is a gag.
  • Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.
  • Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
  • Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded.
  • Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.
  • 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.
  • Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles.
  • Talkies are spoiling the oldest art in the world — the art of pantomime. They are ruining the great beauty of silence. They are defeating the meaning of the screen. (1929)
  • The basic essential of a great actor is that he loves himself in acting.
  • The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.
  • There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.
  • You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. 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.