Philip Larkin used to cheer himself up by looking in the mirror and saying the line from Rebecca, 'I am Mrs de… — Alan Bennett 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
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
There is no such thing as a good script, onlya good film, and I'm conscious that my scripts often read better than… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Art comes out of art; it begins with imitation, often in the form of parody, and it's in the process of imitating… — Alan Bennett Art Copy Share Image
“Books are not about passing the time. They’re about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, Sir Kevin, one… — Alan Bennett Book Copy Share Image
We were all miners in our family. My father was a miner. My mother is a miner. These are miner's hands, but… — Alan Bennett Art Copy Share Image
It's the one species I wouldn't mind seeing vanish from the face of the earth. I wish they were like the White… — Alan Bennett Earth Copy Share Image
“...But what is it all about, what am I trying to do, is there a message? Nobody knows, and I certainly don't.… — Alan Bennett Message Copy Share Image
“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They… — Alan Bennett Books Copy Share Image
Feeling I'd scarcely arrived at a style, I now find I'm near the end of it. I'm not quite sure what Late… — Alan Bennett Ageing Copy Share Image
One of the hardest things for boys to learn is that a teacher is human. One of the hardest things for a… — Alan Bennett Boys 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
“Librarians who are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse… — Alan Bennett Librarian 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
“TIMMS: I don't see how we can understand it. Most of the stuff poetry's about hasn't happened to us yet. HECTOR: But… — Alan Bennett Happiness Copy Share Image
Deluded liberal that I am, I persist in thinking that those with a streak of sexual unorthodoxy ought to be more tolerant… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“Much comment on Mrs T.’s courage the next morning, when she arrives at the Conservative conference on the dot, but it’s not… — Alan Bennett Actor Copy Share Image
Kafka could never have written as he did had he lived in a house. His writing is that of someone whose whole… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“History nowadays is not a matter of conviction. It’s a performance. It’s entertainment. And if it isn’t, make it so.” — Alan Bennett Entertainment Copy Share Image
I'm all in favour of free expression provided it's kept rigidly under control. — Alan Bennett Expression Copy Share Image
Closing a public library is child abuse, really, because it hinders child development. — Alan Bennett Abuse Copy Share Image
Polly: Education with socialists, it's like sex, all right as long as you don't have to pay for it. — Alan Bennett Education Copy Share Image
Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. — Alan Bennett Book Copy Share Image
“I am the King. I tell. I am not told. I am the verb, sir. I am not the object.” — Alan Bennett King Copy Share Image
Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have. — Alan Bennett Book Copy Share Image
I've never seen the point of the sea, except where it meets the land. The shore has a point. The sea has… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
To read is to withdraw.To make oneself unavailable. One would feel easier about it if the pursuit inself were less...selfish. — Alan Bennett Books Copy Share Image
If I am doing nothing, I like to be doing nothing to some purpose. That is what leisure means. — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Nature played a cruel trick on her by giving her a waxed mustache. — Alan Bennett Giving Copy Share Image
Your whole life is on the other side of the glass. And there is nobody watching. — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only… — Alan Bennett Dusk Copy Share Image
The thing I think about is that once you've done it, you then start to think about what you're going to do… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
An article on playwrights in the Daily Mail , listed according to Hard Left, Soft Left, Hard Right, Soft Right and Centre.… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“Then down into Giggleswick to a silly supper and a game of Trivial Pursuit. To play Trivial Pursuit with a life like… — Alan Bennett Doctor Copy Share Image
