100 Greatest Circus Quotes To Entertain You

A circus is an amusement venue that refreshes your soul and mind.

The word circus originated from the Latin language, meaning "circular". This name was therefore derived from the circular shape of the traditional circus tent (also called a Big Top).

Today circuses are popular all over the world, with Philip Astley being known as the 'Father of the Modern Circus'. In a circus you will find animals like horses, tigers and monkeys, along with clowns, musicians, magicians, hoopers, bikers, unicyclists and rope walkers. Their spectacular feats and performances take our breath away.

Circus Vargas from the United States is the most famous circus in the world. It was founded in the mid-'60s by Clifford E Vargas, and continues to perform in a traditional Big Top today.

Are you looking for famous circus quotes? Find funny circus quotes and circus sayings that refresh your mind here, and for more quotes, check out these 'The Greatest Showman' quotes, and clown quotes.

Circus Sayings And Quotes

Circus shows ignite our imagination. Here are the best circus sayings and circus quotes from famous authors, actors and writers to take you on a trip to the circus. Which of these circus quotes is your favorite?

1."If you can't ride two horses at once, you shouldn't be in the circus."

-James Maxton.

2."Why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?"

-Sara Gruen.

3."I liked doing live things, and with the Circus we had a live audience."

-Eric Idle.

4.“Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy gets the Catholic Church. America gets Hollywood.”

—Erica Jong.

5."For a long time, I debated about whether I would make movies or join the circus and work as a clown."

-Denis Lavant.

6."The circus is the only fun you can buy that is good for you."

-Ernest Hemingway.

7."The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money."

-Ernest Hemingway.

8."Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town."

-George Carlin.

9.“Circus, a place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool.”

- Ambrose Bierce.

10."I have become rather like King Midas, except that everything turns not into gold but into a circus."

-Albert Einstein.

11."Two things only the people actually desire. Bread and circuses."

-Juvenal.

12.“Circus can’t just be beautiful. It has to be weird. It has to be frightening.”

-Elizabeth Schulte Martin.

13."We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus!"

-Charles Bukowski.

14.“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”

-H. L. Mencken.

15."A circus is like a mother in whom one can confide and who rewards and punishes."

-Burt Lancaster.

16."I am sad, sad as a circus-lioness. "

– Jean Rhys.

17.“Being an actor is well paid, but it’s a bit like being a circus traveler.”

-Ben Chaplin.

18.“I’m like a circus standing on two legs.”

-Nuno Roque.

19."I went to a tent store. 'What kind of tent do you need?' 'Circus'."

– Mitch Hedberg.

20."When I was a kid I joined the circus."

-Christopher Walken.

21.“I’ll continue to try and balance like a circus act."

-Katy Perry.

22."The clown is sometimes the best part of the circus."

–George Bernard Shaw.

23."Nobody should try to play comedy unless they have a circus going on inside."

-Ernst Lubitsch.

24."Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands."

-Bob Dylan, 'Mr. Tambourine Man'.

25.“Not my circus. Not my monkeys.”

-Unknown*.

26."So many freaks and not enough circuses!"

-Rachel Renée Russell.

27.“The circus leaves a sweet memory.”

-Fernando Botero.

28."We didn't reinvent the circus we repackaged it in a much more modern way."

-Guy Laliberte.

29."It’s like running away to join the circus, everyone wants to do it when they’re young but then you grow up and get a proper job. But somebody’s got to do it or you wouldn’t have the circus."

– Katie McGrath.

30."Elect a clown and expect a circus."

-Unknown*.

31.“Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.”

-P. T. Barnum.

32."Don’t blame a clown for acting like a clown.  Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus."

- Unknown*.

33."This is my circus and these are my monkeys."

-Unknown*.

34."I've always believed that service to others is rent we pay for our time on this planet."

-Tony Curtis.

35."Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip, but the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip."

-George Orwell.

36."The circus allows one to be logical and unreal at the same time."

-Fernando Botero.

37."Marriage is a good deal like a circus: there is not as much in it as is represented in the advertising."

-E. W. Howe.

38."We are like a traveling circus, our family! We sing, we dance, we do football, we do fashion."

-Victoria Beckham.

39."When I was a kid, I worked in the circus. It was a touring circus that was owned by a man named Terrell Jacobs."

- Christopher Walken.

40."I wanted to keep working because work was essentially fantastic - you got to be around people, you got to be in a family, and that family changed from job to job. It was like being in the circus."

-Ben Mendelsohn.

41."Our family is just one tent away from a full-blown circus."

- Unknown*.

42."Nothing is what one thinks it is. Cloth is stone and circus is an art. There are no certainties."

-Walter Moers.

43."There's a hell of a lot of freedom in this rock and roll circus... it's where all the freaks go - it's the environment for me."

-Brian Molko.

44."I'm certainly a real homebody. But the truth is that I understand that desire to, in a way, go join the circus. I want to be a person that isn't surrounded by their mail and their cat."

- Winnie Holzman.

45."Darling girl, when all else fails join the circus."

-Unknown*.

46."Life is a circus and I'am struck in the freak tent."

-Unknown*

47."Her life was a circus so she decided to enjoy the ride."

-Queenisms.

48."I look like a casual, laid-back guy, but it's like a circus in my head."

-Steven Wright.

49."The ringmaster has altered, but the circus remains the same."

-Baron Ashdown.

50."Most women are afraid of clowns but somehow end up still dating one."

- Unknown*.

51."A circus of stars ,your dreams a trapeze, faces lift like mirrored moons."

-Imtiaz Dharker.

52."The circus comes as close to being the world in microcosm as anything I know. In a way, it puts all the rest of show business in the shade."

-E. B. White.

53."I hate to witness animals in captivity - or see circus elephants paraded down the streets. When animals are caged, it's a loss of what they are."

-K. A. Applegate.

54.“Damn everything but the circus... everything that is grim, dull, motionless, that won't enjoy. That won't throw it's heart into the tension."

-E.E. Cummings.

55."Somedays you are my ringmaster somedays you are my clown."

-Unknown*.

56."I don't have a place that I call home at the moment because there's no point. I mean, I'm a traveling circus for a while. It's weird. Like, if I wanted to go home, there's nowhere to go."

-Idris Elba.

57."Love has been described as a three-ring circus: First comes the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, and after that the suffering. "

-Bob Phillips.

58."Politicians were like talking dogs in a circus. The fact that they existed was uncommonly interesting, but no sane person would actually believe what they said."

-Alan Furst.

59."Word gets around when the circus comes to the town, don't it?"

-Cormac Mccarthy.

60."A director is the ringmaster of a circus that's inventing itself."

-Francis Ford Coppola.

61."The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

-Erica Jong.

Inspirational Circus Quotes And Sayings

Here are some quotes about the circus and circus sayings that inspire our real life actions. These circus quotes, from Janusz Korczak and more, depict what the real circus is all about. Enjoy these fun circus quotes!

62."Impossible you say? Nothing is impossible when you work for the circus."

-Unknown*.

63."Life is a circus ring, with some moments more spectacular than others."

- Janusz Korczak.

64."The tiger and the lion may be more powerful, but the wolf does not perform in the circus."

-Earl Derr Biggers.

65.“Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.”

-David Niven.

66.“In a world full of lions and tigers entertaining the masses, have you ever seen a wolf performing in a circus?”

-Akilnathan Logeswaran.

67."Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away."

-Ben Hecht.

68."Life is not [a] fair. It is a circus."

-Luke Gedeon.

69."Success is not a circus where the only purpose is to make people enjoy."

-Unknown*.

70."The hardest tumble a man can make is to fall over his own bluff."

-Ambrose Bierce.

71."My heart pounds so hard that, despite the roaring of the crowd, I am aware of blood whooshing through my ears. "

-Sara Gruen.

72."Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?"

-Sara Gruen.

73."Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."

- Erica Jong.

74."Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat."

-Ben Hecht.

75.“The average painter, sculptor, poet, composer, playwright is a person who cannot leap through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse, make people laugh with a clown's mouth, orchestrate twenty lions.”

-E.E. Cummings.

76."When children sees animals in a circus they  learn that animals exist for our amusements."

-Peter Singer.

Erin Morgenstern Circus Quotes

Erin Morgenstern is the author of two fantasy novels including, 'The Night Circus,' a number-one national bestseller.  Here are few circus quotes and circus phrases by Erin Morgenstern.

77."The circus arrives without warning."

-Erin Morgenstern.

78.“Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent.”

-Erin Morgenstern.

79.“You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus. You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.”

- Erin Morgenstern.

80.“Everything I have done, every change I have made to that circus, every impossible feat and astounding sight, I have done for her.”

-Erin Morgenstern.

81."The acrobats catch the light perfectly as they spin. The entire circus sparkles, dazzling every patron."

-Erin Morgenstern.

Clown Quotes And Sayings

No list of circus quotes would be complete without some clown sayings! A clown is a character who entertains us and brings lots of happiness with his comical actions using physical comedy. Here is a list of circus quotes and sayings about clowns

82."There are two types of people in this world. People who hate clowns... and clowns."

-D. J. MacHale.

83."The cleverest character in comedy is the clown, for he who would make people take him for a fool, must not be one."

-Miguel de Cervantes.

84.“If you surround yourself with clowns, don’t be surprised when your life resembles a circus.”

-Steve Maraboli.

85."Circus clown. That's a new one."

-Goku, 'Dragon Ball'.

86."Nobody likes a clown at midnight."    

-Stephen King.

87."In order to crash the party and be a clown with your own skit, you had to be there for quite a while."

-David Strathairn.

88."Despair is the constant companion of the clown.”

-Angela Carter.

89."I find I have to be the sad clown: laughing on the outside, crying on the inside."

-James Gandolfini.

90."Clowning is a trick to get love close. The clown assumes your humanity. It assumes that, whatever trauma you've had, you can still love yourself."

-Patch Adams.

91."My mother always tells me to smile and put one a happy face. She told me I had a purpose: to bring laughter and joy to the world."

- Joaquin Phoenix, 'Joker'.

92."I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician."

-Charlie Chaplin.

93."Entertain a Clown and You Become Part of the Circus."

- Doug “Uncola” Lynn.

94.“The child's laughter is pure until he first laughs at a clown.”

― Angela Carter.

95.“The clown may be the source of mirth, but - who shall make the clown laugh?”

― Angela Carter.

96.“The circus is a jealous wench. Indeed that is an understatement."

-Henry Ringling North.

97.“Despair is the constant companion of the clown.”

― Angela Carter.

98."Motherhood has relaxed me in many ways. You learn to deal with crisis. I’ve become a juggler, I suppose. It’s all a big circus, and nobody who knows me believes I can manage, but sometimes I do."

–Jane Seymour.

99. "In the circus, all is possible: there can be a man with two heads or a character with a green face."

-Fernando Botero.

100."Whatever you do, do it with all your might."

- P. T. Barnum.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for the greatest circus quotes to entertain you, then why not take a look at these celebration quotes or you are amazing quotes for more?

*Do you know where this quote originated? Please email us to let us know at hello@kidadl.com