Harold Pinter: There Can Never Be Any Honesty

Interview with Harold Pinter

Conducted by James Grissom

1997

There can never be any honesty between two people ever, because the name of the game always has been and always will be survival, and to survive you need the company, the patronage, and the patience of others, and honesty will always drive away virtually everybody. So we lie. We lie to those we love and to those we need--this is not an angry dishonesty: This is simply a means to survive.

Examples: I adore this job; it is what I live for. I love you more than anyone on the face of the planet. I could not have been happier with what you've done with my production. 

There is also the lie to the self: That is the best I could have done with that play/sonnet/book/story. 

Tennessee told you that we need a myth to keep living, and that is true. That is a true lie. That is honest dishonesty.

God is looking after me. I am loved. I am doing my best. I am grateful for what I have right now.

It gets us from day to day, task to task, but it is not honesty.

© 2014 James Grissom