I don't want to see libraries close; I want to find local solutions that will make them sustainable. — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain. — Alan Bennett Character Copy Share Image
“I have to seem like a human being all the time, but I seldom have to be one. I have people to… — Alan Bennett Fame Copy Share Image
We were put to Dickens as children but it never quite took. That unremitting humanity soon had me cheesed off. — Alan Bennett Children Copy Share Image
All the effort went into getting there and then I had nothing left. I thought I'd got somewhere, then I found I… — Alan Bennett Effort Copy Share Image
To play Trivial Pursuit with a life like mine could be said to be a form of homeopathy. — Alan Bennett Doctor Copy Share Image
“The king is up. You attend on the king, not on the clock. When the king is awake, you are awake.” — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
You always know when you're going to arrive. If you go by car, you don't. Apart from anything else, I prefer cycling.… — Alan Bennett Bicycle Copy Share Image
I suppose I'm the only person who remembers one of the most exciting of his ballets-it's the fruit of an unlikely collaboration… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Have you ever thought, headmaster, that your standards might perhaps be a little out of date? Of course they're out of date.… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“What people want to read often seems incongruous. A pair of biker-types taking away Thoughts of the Dalai Lama. People without access… — Alan Bennett Books Copy Share Image
Books are not about passing time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, one just wishes one… — Alan Bennett Book Copy Share Image
A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just… — Alan Bennett Bookshelf Copy Share Image
The bits I most remember about my school days are those that took place outside the classroom, as we were taken on… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
One recipe for happiness is to have to sense of entitlement.' To this she added a star and noted at the bottom… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
I always like to break out and address the audience. In 'The History Boys', for instance, without any ado, the boys will… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Sometimes, particularly in summers in New York, I have tried to write in shorts or with no shirt on and found myself… — Alan Bennett Being Copy Share Image
There are more microbes per person than the entire population of the world. Imagine that. Per person. This means that if the… — Alan Bennett Bacteria Copy Share Image
The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books did not care who was… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
If, for instance, we'd made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
But most men regard their life as a poem that women threaten. They may not have two spondees to rub together but… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
I didn't even have a clear idea of why I wanted to go to Oxford - apart from the fact I had… — Alan Bennett Academic Copy Share Image
“I think the need for reading boils down to one simple issue: children are selfish. Reading about other people creates a sense… — Alan Bennett Children Copy Share Image
Standards are always out of date. That's what makes them standards. — Alan Bennett Computer Copy Share Image
That's a bit like asking a man crawling across the Sahara whether he would prefer Perrier or Malvern water. — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules. — Alan Bennett Anarchist Copy Share Image
Of course my standards are out of date! That's why they're called standards. — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“Watching people behave is nothing special; watching them trying to behave is always fascinating.” — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
God doesn't do notes, either. Did Jesus Christ say, "Can I be excused the Crucifixion?" No! — Alan Bennett Christ Copy Share Image
Mark my words, when a society has to resort to the lavatory for its humour, the writing is on the wall. — Alan Bennett Community Copy Share Image
“Too late. It was all too late. But she went on, determined as ever and always trying to catch up.” — Alan Bennett Alive Copy Share Image
Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key. — Alan Bennett Inspirational life Copy Share Image
Were we closer to the ground as children, or is the grass emptier now? — Alan Bennett Children Copy Share Image
Had your forefathers, Wigglesworth, been as stupid as you are, the human race would never have succeeded in procreating itself. — Alan Bennett Forefathers Copy Share Image
If you find yourself born in Barnsley and then set your sights on being Virginia Woolf it is not going to be… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“I note at the age of ten a fully developed ability not quite to enjoy myself, a capacity I have retained intact… — Alan Bennett Ability Copy Share Image
Children always assume the sexual lives of their parents come to a grinding halt at their conception. — Alan Bennett Children Copy Share Image
