Dario Fo quotes

Dario Fo was an Italian playwright, actor, and director renowned for his satirical and politically charged works. His plays combined comedy with sharp social commentary, often challenging authority and tradition. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature and inspired generations with his bold artistry. Here are 29 of his quotes:

It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control.

Dario Fo

A theatre, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance.

Dario Fo

Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, revolution in our hearts.

Dario Fo

When I was a boy, unconsciously, spontaneously I learned the art of telling ironic stories.

Dario Fo

Real socialism is inside man. It wasn't born with Marx. It was in the communes of Italy in the Middle Ages. You can't say it is finished.

Dario Fo

Even before Europe was united in an economic level or was conceived at the level of economic interests and trade, it was culture that united all the countries of Europe. The arts, literature, music are the connecting link of Europe.

Dario Fo

It is extremely dangerous to talk about limits or borders. It is vital, instead, that we remain completely open, that we are always involved, and that we aim to contribute personally in social events.

Dario Fo

Every time you touch those who have power over the media, they seek to stop you.

Dario Fo

Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics.

Dario Fo

We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression.

Dario Fo

For some time its been my habit to use images when preparing a speech: rather than write it down, I illustrate it.

Dario Fo

Nevertheless, the mode, the justification, and all the games involved in this war were dishonest.

Dario Fo

With comedy I can search for the profound.

Dario Fo

Comedy makes the subversion of the existing state of affairs possible.

Dario Fo

Scandals are the fertilizer of Western democracy.

Dario Fo

All forms of power - even based on the consensus of the democratic system - react when they are being attacked, or when those who exercise power become a target.

Dario Fo

Health and an able body are two jewels.

Dario Fo

I am the jongleur. I leap and pirouette, and make you laugh. I make fun of those in power, and I show you how puffed up and conceited are the big shots who go around making wars in which we are the ones who get slaughtered. I reveal them for what they are. I pull out the plug, and... pssss... they deflate.

Dario Fo

I felt like an extraordinary hero. I was only five or six and I had the whole of life in my hands. Even if I had been driving the carriage of the sun I could not have felt any better.

Dario Fo

Satire can always be found everywhere. A people without love for satire is a dead people.

Dario Fo

I'm an idiot who won the Literature Nobel Prize.

Dario Fo

Life has always treated me well. I therefore won't mind leaving it behind.

Dario Fo