There are lots of similarities between being a writer and a lawyer: to tell a story to a jury, hold their attention,… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yoghurt. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
When... I told my father I wanted to be a writer, he had asked me to consider my unfortunate wife, who would… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
It is desperately important to remember when enough is enough, when you've finished the scene. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
Writing about the indignities of old age: the daunting stairway to the restaurant restroom, the benefits of a wheelchair in airports and… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
The only rule I have found to have any validity in writing is not to bore yourself. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
The shelf life of the modern hardback writer is somewhere between the milk and the yogurt. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
What obsesses a writer starting out on a lifetime's work is the panic-stricken search for a voice of his own. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
I knew early on that I was going to be a writer. I think it's something rather like a curse that you're… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
“Take sex, for instance.' 'What do you want me to do with it?' 'Try to be serious for a moment. Take the sex life… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
I knew nothing about farce until I read Puce a l'Oreille, and had no idea what a deadly serious business it is. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
Do we want blanks, asterisks and exclamation marks which people can fill in with their own imaginations, or are we prepared and strong enough… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
Voting Liberal is a non-thing. Historically, it might be a good idea to have a Conservative government, because change is a good thing. But… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
Dying is a matter of slapstick and pratfalls. The ageing process is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, pushes you over and runs… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
No brilliance is required in law, just common sense and relatively clean fingernails. — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
The people look forbidding, solemn, marked by that impossible ideal, Communism, which, like Christianity, seemed to demand too much of humanity and, falling into… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
I try and treat my children from the age of ten months as if they were totally grown up, which I think is the… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
Check-ups are, in my experience, a grave mistake; all they do is allow the quack of your choice to tell you that you have… — John Mortimer Copy Share Image
