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Above literature?’ said the Queen. ‘Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.

Alan Bennett

The masters had no idea what was expected of you in the scholarship exam, so you just had to busk it really.
ALAN BENNETT

Busk Exam Expect Ide Master Really Scholarship
We don’t see it, and because we don’t see it this means that there is no period so remote as the recent past.
ALAN BENNETT

Down Mean No Past Period Recent Remote See
I think the writer’s quite low down in the hierarchy really. But the fact that they took the piss out of Nicholas [Hynter] who, besides being the director, is also director of the National Theatre is, I’d have thought, slightly more risky.
ALAN BENNETT

Besides Director Down Hierarchy More Piss Place Quite Really Risky Think Took Writer
I’ve never seen the point of the sea, except where it meets the land. The shore has a point. The sea has none.
ALAN BENNETT

Except Land Meet never Point Sea Seen Shore
Culminating with a man in a white coat saying to one kindly, “And now can you tell me the name of the Prime Minister?”
ALAN BENNETT

Can Coat Culminate Kindly Man Name Prime Minister Say Tell White
Nor did they seem to think one had done them a kindness by reading their writings. Rather they had done one the kindness by writing them.
ALAN BENNETT

Done Kindness Nor Read Seem Think Write
If, for instance, we’d made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film but we would have been assured that they would have understood it.
ALAN BENNETT

Assure Broadway Exactly Film Instance Made Same Show Understand
Why do we not care to acknowledge them? The cattle, the body count.
ALAN BENNETT

Acknowledge Care Cattle Count Foo
Remember. You are a physician. You are not a policeman nor are you a minister of religion.
ALAN BENNETT

Cloth Minister Owner Physician Religion Remember
Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key.
ALAN BENNETT

Key Life Look Rather Sardine Tin
We still don’t like to admit the war was even partly our fault because so many of our people died.
ALAN BENNETT

Admit Die Fault Many Partly People So Still War
Were we closer to the ground as children, or is the grass emptier now?
ALAN BENNETT

Children Closer Empire Grass Ground Now
What I’m above all primarily concerned with is the substance of life, the pith of reality.
ALAN BENNETT

Above Concern Pith Primarily Reality Substance
It [Cambridge] wasn’t a holy grail in the sense that I’d never been to Cambridge.
ALAN BENNETT

Been Cambridge Grail Holy never Sense
Books are not about passing time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds.
ALAN BENNETT

Book Live Other Pass Time World
I write plays about things that I can’t resolve in my mind. I try to root things out.
ALAN BENNETT

Mind Out Play Resolve Root Thing Write

Above literature?’ said the Queen. ‘Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.

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Above literature?’ said the Queen. ‘Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Alan Bennett Quotes