George Carlin was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic.
Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed “the dean of counterculture comedians”. He was known for his black comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects.
The first of Carlin’s 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977, and broadcast as George Carlin at USC. From the late 1980s onwards, his routines focused on sociocultural criticism of American society. He often commented on American political issues and satirized American culture. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2004, he placed second on Comedy Central’s list of top 10 American comedians.
In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him second (behind Richard Pryor) on its list of the 50 best stand-up comedians of all time
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List of quotes
| If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten. |
| Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town. |
| In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first. |
| If we could just find out who’s in charge, we could kill him. |
| If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little. |
| I’m not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose… it’ll be much harder to detect. |
| I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. |
| I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it. |
| I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. |
| I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me – they’re cramming for their final exam. |
| I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work. |
| I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer’s disease where they slowly began to recover other people’s lost memories. |
| I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away. |
| I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don’t have as many people who believe it. |
| “I am” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do” is the longest sentence? |
| I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. |
| Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. |
| You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar. |
| Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they? |
| There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. |
| There’s no present. There’s only the immediate future and the recent past. |
| Think off-center. |
| Weather forecast for tonight: dark. |
| What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on? |
| When someone is impatient and says, “I haven’t got all day,” I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day? |
| When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I’m sure it made the work seem that much more urgent. |
| When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat. |
| The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept. |
| You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans. |
| When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot’s hands. |
| Not only do I not know what’s going on, I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did. |
| The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done. |
| Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit. |
| The status quo sucks. |
| One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like. |
| One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. |
| People who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think. |
| Religion is just mind control. |
| Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don’t have time for all that. |
| Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another. |
| The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live. |
| The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going. |
| May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. |
| Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. |
| Atheism is a non-prophet organization. |
| By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. |
| Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time. |
| Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things. |
| Always do whatever’s next. |
| Electricity is really just organized lightning. |
| Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. |
| At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom. |
| Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? |
| Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established. |