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The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature.

Alan Bennett

I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain.
ALAN BENNETT

Call Character English Lack Mean Power Refrain
And one of the historian’s jobs is to anticipate what our perspective of that period will be… even on the Holocaust.
ALAN BENNETT

Anticipate Historian Holocaust Period Perspective Remote
To read is to withdraw.To make oneself unavailable. One would feel easier about it if the pursuit inself were less…selfish.
ALAN BENNETT

Make Oneself Read Unavailable Withdraw
You don’t put your life into your books, you find it there.
ALAN BENNETT

Book Find Into Life Put
Some local boys come in and there is a bit of chat between them and the fish-fryer about whether the kestrel under the counter is for sale.
ALAN BENNETT

Between Bit Boy Chat Counter Fish Fryer Local Sale Some Under
I’m for the freedom of expression, given that it will be under strict control.
ALAN BENNETT

Control Expression Freedom Give Strict
So, half a dozen of us tried – not all of us in history – and we all eventually got in. So, to that extent, it [The History Boys] comes out of my own experience.
ALAN BENNETT

Dozen Eventually Experience Extent Half History Own Try
The thing I think about is that once you’ve done it, you then start to think about what you’re going to do next.
ALAN BENNETT

Done Go Next Once Start Think
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
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 wish they were like the White Rhinosix of them left in the Serengeti National Park, and all males.
ALAN BENNETT

Left Male National Park Serengeti White Wish
My school was a state school in Leeds and the headmaster usually sent students to Leeds University but he didn’t normally send them to Oxford or Cambridge.
ALAN BENNETT

Cambridge Headmaster Leed Oxford School State Student University Usually
[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 BENNETT

Context Explain Holocaust Say Something Step Talking Toward Understand
One of the hardest things for a teacher to learn is not to try and tell them.
ALAN BENNETT

Hardest Learn Not One Teacher Tell Them Thing Try
Because you should realise the Cenotaph and the Last Post and all that stuff is concerned, there’s no better way of forgetting something than by commemorating it.
ALAN BENNETT

Cenotaph Commentary Concern Last Post Realise Something Stuff
[B]riefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point.
ALAN BENNETT

Antithesis Brief Fact Factual Point Raed Terse

The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature.

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The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature.

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Popular Authors

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