“That's what show business is--sincere insincerity.”

—  Benny Hill

Quoted in The Observer (12 June 1977)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "That's what show business is--sincere insincerity." by Benny Hill?
Benny Hill photo
Benny Hill1
English comedian and actor 1924–1992

Related quotes

“When a condition of honesty and sincerity is recognized to exist, errors of judgment, defects of ability, are sympathetically endured. They are expected. Employees don’t ascribe infallibility to leaders or management. What does disturb them is insincerity and the appearance of insincerity when the facts are not in their possession.”

Chester Barnard (1886–1961) American businessman

Source: Organization and Management: Selected Papers (1948), p. 11

Thomas Carlyle photo

“Truly it is a sad thing for a people, as for a man, to fall into Scepticism, into dilettantism, insincerity; not to know Sincerity when they see it. For this world, and for all worlds, what curse is so fatal?”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero As King

Everett Dean Martin photo

“There is a quality of the educated mind which may best be described as a kind of sincerity, and conversely the outstanding trait of ignorance is that of clever insincerity.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926), p. 43

“Everybody seemed to be in show business; what the hell had happened to the audience?”

T. A. Waters (1938–1998) American magician

Source: The Probability Pad (1970), Chapter 3 (p. 27)

“There is no business like show business, Irving Berlin once proclaimed, and thirty years ago he may have been right, but not anymore. Nowadays almost every business is like show business, including politics, which has become more like show business than show business is.”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"The Face Game" (p.215)
So This Is Depravity (1980)

Theodore Dalrymple photo

“The nearer emotional life approaches to hysteria, to continual outward show, the less genuine it becomes. Feeling becomes equated with vehemence of expression, so that insincerity becomes permanent.”

Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer

A Neglected Genius http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_oh_to_be.html (Winter 2004). <br class="br">City Journal (1998 - 2008)

Joan Robinson photo

“It is the business of economists, not to tell us what to do, but show why what we are doing anyway is in accord with proper principles.”

Joan Robinson (1903–1983) English economist

Source: Economic Philosophy (1962), p. 21

François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“Though sincerity and confidence have many points of resemblance, they have yet many points of difference. Sincerity is an openness of heart, which shows us what we are, a love of truth, a dislike to deception, a wish to compensate our faults and to lessen them by the merit of confessing them.”

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French author of maxims and memoirs

Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), I. On Confidence

“What business is it of mine if they should want to kill each other? I’d say they both show excellent judgement.”

Genevieve Cogman (1972) novelist and game designer

Source: The Lost Plot (2017), Chapter 24 (p. 284)
Context: “Sounds about right to me,” Evariste said harshly. “Not my circus, not my monkeys. If they want to tear each other to bits, they can get on with it, and good luck to them.”

Bram van Velde photo

“What makes a painting fascinating is its sincerity. Sincerity is such a rare thing. Most people don't dare to be sincere.”

Bram van Velde (1895–1981) Dutch painter

1970's, Conversations with Samuel Beckett and Bram van Velde (1970 - 1972)

Related topics