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Neil Simon Quotes

Marvin Neil Simon is an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He has written more than thirty plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly adaptations of his plays. He has received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.

Simon grew up in New York during the Great Depression, with his parents' financial hardships affecting their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood. He often took refuge in movie theaters where he enjoyed watching the early comedians like Charlie Chaplin. After a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve, and after graduating from high school, he began writing comedy scripts for radio and some popular early television shows. Among them were Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows from 1950 , and The Phil Silvers Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.

He began writing his own plays beginning with Come Blow Your Horn , which took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two more successful plays, Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple , for which he won a Tony Award. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway." During the 1960s to 1980s, he wrote both original screenplays and stage plays, with some films actually based on his plays. His style ranged from romantic comedy to farce to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. During one season, he had four successful plays running on Broadway at the same time, and in 1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor.

✵ 4. July 1927 – 26. August 2018
Neil Simon photo
Neil Simon: 13 quotes0 likes

Famous Neil Simon Quotes

“Never underestimate the stimulation of eccentricity.”

Neil Simon

“When its 100 degrees in New York, it's 72 in Los Angeles. When its 30 degrees in New York, in Los Angeles it's still 72. However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and only 72 in Los Angeles.”

Neil Simon

“If you can go through life without ever experiencing pain you probably haven't been born yet. And if you've gone through pain and think you know exactly why, you haven't examined all the options.”

Neil Simon

The Play Goes On (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999) p. 260

“Money brings some happiness. But after a certain point, it just brings more money.”

Neil Simon

Interviewed in Newsweek, (2 February 1970)

“People with honorary awards are looked upon with disfavor. Would you let an honorary mechanic fix your brand-new Mercedes?”

Neil Simon

New York Times, June 4, 1984.
On receiving an honorary degree from Williams College

Neil Simon Quotes

“Take care of him. And make him feel important. And if you can do that, you'll have a happy and wonderful marriage…Like two out of every ten couples.”

Neil Simon

Mother, in Barefoot in the Park (1963); cited from The Collected Plays of Neil Simon (New York: New American Library, 1986) vol. 1, p. 207

“Everyone thinks they can write a play; you just write down what happened to you. But the art of it is drawing from all the moments of your life.”

Neil Simon

New York Times, March 24, 1985

“You're welcome to take a bath. You look like the second week of the garbage strike.”

Neil Simon

Evy, in The Gingerbread Lady (1970); cited from The Collected Plays of Neil Simon (New York: Random House, 1971) vol. 2, p. 76

“And so she lived…hopefully…ever after.”

Neil Simon

Sweet Charity (1966); cited from The Collected Plays of Neil Simon (New York: Random House, 1991) vol. 3, p. 113

“A writer without confidence is like a metaphor without something to compare itself to.”

Neil Simon

Rewrites (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996) p. 105

“There are two million interesting people in New York and only seventy-eight in Los Angeles.”

Neil Simon

Interviewed in Playboy (February 1979)

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