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Daily Inspiration Quote by Richard Griffiths

"I wouldn't inflict my naked body on any paying audience"

About this Quote

There is a kind of weaponized modesty in Richard Griffiths's line: it plays as self-deprecation, but it also asserts control. By framing nudity as something he might "inflict" on a "paying audience", he flips the usual performer-audience contract. The crowd isn't privileged to see more; they're being spared. It's funny because it borrows the language of harm and charity for something the culture often treats as titillation or artistic bravery.

The specific intent feels practical and defensive. Actors get asked - sometimes relentlessly - about bodies, transformation, and what they'll do "for the role". Griffiths answers with a gag that shuts the door without sounding puritanical. He isn't moralizing about nudity; he's sidestepping it by turning the spotlight back on the absurdity of the demand.

The subtext is sharper: fame doesn't erase dignity, and "paying" doesn't equal entitlement. In an industry that can treat the actor's body as both product and proof of commitment, Griffiths suggests a boundary that reads like humor but functions like a veto. There's also a classically British comic rhythm here: the understatement, the mock politeness, the implied eye-roll at the culture of exposure.

Contextually, it's a line that lands in an era when on-screen nudity is routinely packaged as authenticity and marketed as a "moment". Griffiths punctures that inflation. He reframes the naked body not as spectacle, but as labor - and chooses not to sell that particular unit.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Griffiths, Richard. (2026, January 16). I wouldn't inflict my naked body on any paying audience. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-wouldnt-inflict-my-naked-body-on-any-paying-117997/

Chicago Style
Griffiths, Richard. "I wouldn't inflict my naked body on any paying audience." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-wouldnt-inflict-my-naked-body-on-any-paying-117997/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I wouldn't inflict my naked body on any paying audience." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-wouldnt-inflict-my-naked-body-on-any-paying-117997/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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Richard Griffiths (born July 31, 1947) is a Actor from England.

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