Why is it always the "intelligent" people who are socialists? — Alan Bennett Capitalism 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
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
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
“Watching people behave is nothing special; watching them trying to behave is always fascinating.” — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
I've been very lucky in everything, really - in my career and in finding someone to share my life with, and in… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
f they'd been working with Alec Guinness, for instance, they wouldn't have known they were born if they'd not towed the line! — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
What I'm above all primarily concerned with is the substance of life, the pith of reality. If I had to sum up… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
[B]riefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is… — Alan Bennett Antithesis Copy Share Image
The nearest my parents came to alcohol was at Holy Communion and they utterly overestimated its effects. However bad the weather, Dad… — Alan Bennett Alcohol 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
“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
Have you ever thought, headmaster, that your standards might perhaps be a little out of date? Of course they're out of date.… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
Our father the novelist; my husband the poet. He belongs to the ages - just don't catch him at breakfast. Artists, celebrated… — Alan Bennett Age 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
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
“She said, 'He knows what I mean. Where did you get those shoes?' He said, 'They're training shoes.' She said, 'Training for… — Alan Bennett Fashion Copy Share Image
Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader's… — Alan Bennett Book Copy Share Image
My experience came before most of you were born. My school was a state school in Leeds and the headmaster usually sent… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
“and when Mrs Thatcher came to the college for a scientific symposium Tyson was deputed to take her round the Common Room.… — Alan Bennett Mrs thatcher Copy Share Image
“IRWIN: At the time of the Reformation there were fourteen foreskins of Christ preserved, but it was thought that the church of… — Alan Bennett Time Copy Share Image
“HEADMASTER: I was a geographer. I went to Hull. IRWIN: Oh. Larkin. HEADMASTER: Everybody says that. 'Hull? Oh, Larkin.' I don't know… — Alan Bennett Art Copy Share Image
It [Cambridge] wasn't a holy grail in the sense that I'd never been to Cambridge. But then, when I did go, the… — Alan Bennett Copy Share Image
![“[B]riefing is not reading. In fact it is the antithesis of reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up.” quote by Alan Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8a2/alan-bennett-1922_antithesis_b-riefing-is-not-reading-in-fact-it-is-t_1454820.jpg)
![“A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot." [ Baffled at a Bookcase ( London Review of Books , Vol. 33 No. 15, 28 July 2011)]” quote by Alan Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8c1/alan-bennett-1922_bookshelf_a-bookshelf-is-as-particular-to-its-owne_3055789.jpg)
![“It [Cambridge] wasn't a holy grail in the sense that I'd never been to Cambridge. But then, when I did go, the contrast between Leeds, which was very black and sooty in those days, and Cambridge, which seemed like something out of a fairystory, in the grip of a hard frost, was just wonderful.” quote by Alan Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/838/alan-bennett-1922_black_it-cambridge-wasn-t-a-holy-grail-in-the_892083.jpg)
