I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain.
ALAN BENNETTOur perspective on the past alters. Looking back, immediately in front of us is dead ground.
More Alan Bennett Quotes
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Life is like a box of sardines and we are all looking for the key.
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Over the years Miss Shepherd was visited by a succession of social workers so the character in the play is a composite figure.
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The sheer endlessness of books outfaced her and she had no idea how to go on; there was no system to her reading, with one book leading to another, and often she had two or three on the go at the same time.
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Books are not about passing time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds.
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I wish they were like the White Rhinosix of them left in the Serengeti National Park, and all males.
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No mention of God. They keep Him up their sleeves for as long as they can, vicars do. They know it puts people off.
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Your whole life is on the other side of the glass. And there is nobody watching.
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If I am doing nothing, I like to be doing nothing to some purpose. That is what leisure means.
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Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key.
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Schweitzer in the Congo did not derive more moral credit than Larkin did for living in Hull.
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I had no idea of who could play it, no notion really. Then Richard came to see us but I don’t think it was decided at that meeting.
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To play Trivial Pursuit with a life like mine could be said to be a form of homeopathy.
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I can walk. It’s just that I’m so rich I don’t need to.
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So boring you fall asleep halfway through her name.
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If I had to sum up my work, I suppose that’s it really: I’m taking the pith out of reality.
ALAN BENNETT