See also: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Sourced

• Some forms of reality are so horrible we refuse to face them, unless we are trapped into it by comedy. To label any subject unsuitable for comedy is to admit defeat.
  • As quoted in Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers (1999) by Ed Sikov

• Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!
  • As quoted in Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers (1999) by Ed Sikov

Performances

• Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
  • As "President Merkin Muffley" in Dr. Strangelove (1964)

• We don't want to start a nuclear war unless we really have to, now do we Jack?
  • As "Captain Mandrake" to Colonel Jack Ripper in Dr. Strangelove (1964)

• Mein Führer! I can walk!
  • As "Dr. Strangelove" in Dr. Strangelove (1964)

• It won't be easy, that is why I have always failed where others have succeeded.
  • As "Inspector Clouseau" in The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

• Conversation like television set on honeymoon... unnecessary.
  • As "Mr. Wang" in Murder by Death (1976)

• No, you see, there is no me. I do not exist ... There used to be a me, but I had it surgically removed.
  • As "Himself" in The Muppet Show, episode # 2.19 (6 December 1977); also quoted in "Sellers Strikes Again"by Richard Schickel in TIME magazine (3 March 1980)

• I like to watch.
  • As "Chance" the gardener in Being There (1979)

Unsourced

• Finally, in conclusion, let me say just this...
  • Pink Panther

• I feel ghostly unreal until I become somebody else again on the screen.

• I writhe when I see myself on the screen. I'm such a dreadfully clumsy hulking image. I say to myself, 'Why doesn't he get off? Why doesn't he get off?' I mean, I look like such an idiot. Some fat awkward thing dredged up from some third-rate drama company. I must stop thinking about it, otherwise I shan't be able to go on working.

• If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am.

• I'm a classic example of all humorists — only funny when I'm working.

• To see me as a person on screen would be one of the dullest experiences you could ever wish to experience.

• You have to live before you die, or you'll die before you live.

Quotes about Sellers

• Peter Sellers, a showbiz baby, was carried onstage two weeks into his life by vaudevillian Dickie Henderson, who encouraged the audience to join him in singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Little Peter instantly burst into tears and the audience erupted into laughter and applause. From Pete's perspective, this emotional scenario was played out more or less consistently until his death in 1980.
  • Ed Sikov in Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers (2002)