Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Beckett was a close friend of James Joyce, and at one time undertook a translation into French of Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, though he never completed it. (Source: Damned to Fame, by James Knowlson)
In 1938, Beckett was nearly killed when he was stabbed by a "pimp." The knife passed within an inch of his heart. (Source)
Samuel Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. He accepted it, but did not travel to accept it in person. He gave no interviews at the time of his speech, but only sat out, smoked a cigar, and let people take pictures of him for a few minutes. (Source: Damned to Fame, by James Knowlson)
Beckett's favorite line in Endgame is Hamm's deduction from Clov's observation that Nell is crying: "Then she's living." (Source: Back to Beckett, by Ruby Cohn)