Alan Bennett Quotes (27 Quotes)

Children always assume the sexual lives of their parents come to a grinding halt at their conception.

Your whole life is on the other side of the glass. And there is nobody watching.

I write plays about things that I can't resolve in my mind. I try to root things out.

No mention of God. They keep Him up their sleeves for as long as they can, vicars do. They know it puts people off.

Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.

My films are about embarrassment.

Life is rather like a tin of sardines, we're all of us looking for the key.

That's a great benefit. After we chose the cast, we educated them into the play. We taught them. One of the blessings of being at the National Theatre is that you have a very long rehearsal time.

He says some things which are taken as gospel, when they ought to be disputed. When he writes 'Courage is no good It means not scaring others', you want to say that just isn't true. There is more to courage than that.

I'm all in favour of free expression provided it's kept rigidly under control.

Why is it always the 'intelligent' people who are socialists.

Life is generally something that happens elsewhere.

We have smaller defensive ends, but they're quick. They'll be OK. Everybody knows their job, and our defense is better this year. If we play better in the second half of the game this year, we'll do better.

We were put to Dickens as children but it never quite took. That unremitting humanity soon had me cheesed off.

If you told it the other way round in a film, it would seem like a tract, ... The message would be too much in the foreground. It's human stories, those are the ones you're interested in. So the argument, as it were, is submerged and that's the way it should be, really. You've got to get the audience interested in the lives of the boys.

We started trying to set up a small anarchist community, but the people wouldn't obey the rules.

Hey, this is exciting. At least we'll always remember this anniversary.

This symposium will highlight the surprisingly diverse and positive role that cocoa can potentially play in improving public health and reinvigorating endangered tropical ecosystems. It also underscores the impact that collaborative efforts among public and private sector scientists can have in a relatively short time.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

that interest comes from my partner Rupert. But I used to do it when I was young and a lot of that fed into The History Boys.

If you think squash is a competitive activity, try flower arranging.

I've never seen the point of the sea, except where it meets the land. The shore has a point. The sea has none.

Cancer, like any other illness, is a bore.

Life is like a box of sardines and we are all looking for the key.

Were we closer to the ground as children, or is the grass emptier now?

Papers like the Mail make out that people are prurient and outraged I don't think people really care.

I was an only child. I lost both my parents. By the time I was twenty I was bald. I'm homosexual. In the way of circumstances and background to transcend I had everything an artist could possibly want. It was practically a blueprint.