It [Cambridge] wasn’t a holy grail in the sense that I’d never been to Cambridge.
ALAN BENNETTIt [Cambridge] wasn’t a holy grail in the sense that I’d never been to Cambridge.
ALAN BENNETTHad your forefathers, Wigglesworth, been as stupid as you are, the human race would never have succeeded in procreating itself.
ALAN BENNETT[talking about the Holocaust] ‘But to put something in context is a step towards saying it can be understood and that it can be explained.
ALAN BENNETTDefinition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.
ALAN BENNETTOur perspective on the past alters. Looking back, immediately in front of us is dead ground.
ALAN BENNETTI turned down a knighthood. It would be like having to wear a suit every day of your life.
ALAN BENNETTI tried to explain to her the significance of the great poet, but without much success,
ALAN BENNETTI saw someone peeing in Jermym Street the other day. I thought, is this the end of civilization as we know it? Or is it simply someone peeing in Jermyn Street?
ALAN BENNETTI 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 BENNETTThe liturgy is best treated and read as if it’s someone announcing the departure of trains.
ALAN BENNETTThose who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories.
ALAN BENNETTCloisters, ancient libraries … I was confusing learning with the smell of cold stone.
ALAN BENNETTMemories are not shackles, Franklin, they are garlands.
ALAN BENNETTCancer, like any other illness, is a bore.
ALAN BENNETTIt’s much easier to follow something that’s not been as successful as this.
ALAN BENNETTI’m all in favour of free expression provided it’s kept rigidly under control.
ALAN BENNETT