Cloisters, ancient libraries … I was confusing learning with the smell of cold stone.
ALAN BENNETT[B]riefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point.
More Alan Bennett Quotes
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Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader’s imagination as the characters in their books.
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Life is generally something that happens elsewhere.
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Illogically, I tend to assume that if you ( Philip Larkin) dream of caning schoolgirls bottoms, it disqualifies you from dismissing half the nation as work-shy.
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Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories.
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The liturgy is best treated and read as if it’s someone announcing the departure of trains.
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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.
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Have you ever thought, headmaster, that your standards might perhaps be a little out of date?
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Were we closer to the ground as children, or is the grass emptier now?
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God doesn’t do notes, either. Did Jesus Christ say, “Can I be excused the Crucifixion?” No!
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Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.
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So boring you fall asleep halfway through her name.
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History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.
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We have fish and chips, which W. and I fetch from the shop in Settle market-place.
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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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Artists, celebrated for their humanity, they turn out to be scarcely human at all.
ALAN BENNETT