Alan Bennett Quotes

   1934 -

English writer. He came to prominence as an actor and writer in Beyond  the  Fringe  (1960),  and  went  on  to  write  wry,  mordant plays  and  monologues  for  stage  and  screen.  He  adapted  his play The Madness of  George III  (1991)  as  an Oscar-winning film (The Madness of King George,1995).

Read Alan Bennett biography

One of the few things I have learned in life isthat there is invariablysomething odd about womenwho wearankle socks.

1977  The Old Country, act1.

Share

More Alan Bennett Quotes

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

Alan Bennett
— 1960  Beyond the Fringe.

Tags: Life, tin, us, looking, key

Share
twitter

It's the one species I wouldn't mind seeing vanish from the face of the earth. I wish they were like the White Rhinosix of them left in the Serengeti National Park, and all males.

Alan Bennett
— 1971Of dogs. Getting On (published1972), act1.

Tags: one, species, wouldn't, mind, seeing, vanish, face, earth, wish

Share
twitter

The longer I practise medicine, the more convinced I am there are only two types of cases: those that involve taking the trousers off and those that don't.

Alan Bennett
— 1973  Habeas Corpus.

Tags: longer, practise, medicine, more, convinced, there, two, types, cases

Share
twitter

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

Alan Bennett
— 1977  The Old Country, act 2.

Tags: We, Dickens, children, never, unremitting, humanity, soon, me

Share
twitter

There is no such thing as a good script, onlya good film, and I'm conscious that my scripts often read better than they play.

Alan Bennett
— 1984  A Private Function, introduction to published screenplay.

Tags: There, thing, good, script, onlya, film, conscious, scripts, often

Share
twitter

I'm going to throwcaution to the winds and have a sweet sherry.

Alan Bennett
— 1984  Spoken by Maggie Smith as  Joyce Chilvers in  A Private Function.

Tags: going, winds, sweet, sherry

Share
twitter

I want a future that will live up to my past.

Alan Bennett
— 1984  Spoken by Maggie Smith as  Joyce Chilvers in  A Private Function.

Tags: want, future, live, past

Share
twitter

They're going to have to be made to sit up and take notice. They're going to have to be made to realise who we are. My father had a chain of dry cleaners.

Alan Bennett
— 1984  A Private Function.

Tags: going, sit, notice, realise, who, we, father, chain, dry

Share
twitter

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

Alan Bennett
— Getting On, Act 1 (1972)

Tags: Geoff, We, started, trying, set, small, anarchist, community, people

Share
twitter

Polly: Education with socialists, it's like sex, all right as long as you don't have to pay for it.

Alan Bennett
— Getting On, Act 1

Tags: Polly, Education, socialists, sex, right, long, you, pay

Share
twitter

I lack what the English call character, by which they mean the power to refrain.

Alan Bennett
— An Englishman Abroad (1983)

Tags: what, English, call, character, mean, power, refrain

Share
twitter

That's a bit like asking a man crawling across the Sahara whether he would prefer Perrier or Malvern water.

Alan Bennett
— Quoted in the Daily Telegraph, October 30, 2004. [2]
When asked by Sir Ian McKellen, in 1997, whether he was heterosexual or homosexual.

Tags: asking, man, crawling, across, Sahara, prefer, Perrier, water

Share
twitter

Headmaster: Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince, with in his belt the short curved, gold sword of the Ashraf descendants of the Prophet, he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas, he was mistaken. "Who am I?" he would cry despairingly. "You are Lawrence of Arabia" passers-by would stop him and say, "And I claim my five pounds."

Alan Bennett
— Act 1, p. 56.

Tags: Headmaster, Clad, magnificent, white, silk, robes, prince, belt, short

Share
twitter

Headmaster: They were all socialists. Why is it always the intelligent people who are socialists?

Alan Bennett
— Act 2, p. 75.
Of the Bloomsbury group.

Tags: Headmaster, socialists, intelligent, people, who

Share
twitter

Schoolmaster: But God, whatever else He is, and of course He is everything else, is not a fool.

Alan Bennett
— Act 2, p. 78.

Tags: God, course, everything, fool

Share
twitter

He had never read Proust , but he had somehow taken a short cut across the allotments and arrived at the same conclusions.

Alan Bennett
— "Russell Harty, 1934 – 1988", p. 52 (1988)

Tags: never, read, Proust, somehow, taken, short, cut, across, allotments

Share
twitter

An article on playwrights in the Daily Mail , listed according to Hard Left, Soft Left, Hard Right, Soft Right and Centre. I am not listed. I should probably come under Soft Centre.

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for November 11, 1981, p. 117

Tags: article, playwrights, Daily, Mail, listed, Hard, Left, Soft, Right

Share
twitter

The majority of people perform well in a crisis and when the spotlight is on them; it's on the Sunday afternoons of this life, when nobody is looking, that the spirit falters.

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for October 13, 1984, pp. 137-138

Tags: majority, people, perform, crisis, when, spotlight, Sunday, afternoons, life

Share
twitter

To play Trivial Pursuit with a life like mine could be said to be a form of homeopathy.

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for June 7, 1985, p. 143

Tags: play, Trivial, Pursuit, life, mine, form, homeopathy

Share
twitter

We have fish and chips, which W. and I fetch from the shop in Settle market-place. Some local boys come in and there is a bit of chat between them and the fish-fryer about whether the kestrel under the counter is for sale.…Only when I mention it to W. does he explain Kestrel is now a lager. I imagine the future is going to contain an increasing number of incidents like this, culminating with a man in a white coat saying to one kindly, "And now can you tell me the name of the Prime Minister?"

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for July 25, 1985, p. 144

Tags: We, fish, chips, fetch, shop, Settle, marketplace, local, boys

Share
twitter

Kafka could never have written as he did had he lived in a house. His writing is that of someone whose whole life was spent in apartments, with lifts, stairwells, muffled voices behind closed doors, and sounds through walls. Put him in a nice detached villa and he’d never have written a word.

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for June 27, 1988, p. 177

Tags: Kafka, never, written, lived, house, writing, someone, whole, life

Share
twitter

I have no doubt that in heaven the angels will regard the blessed as a necessary evil.

Alan Bennett
— Diary entry for August 9, 1985, p. 290

Tags: doubt, heaven, angels, blessed, necessary, evil

Share
twitter

One of the good things about Larkin is that he still has you firmly by the hand as you cross the finishing-line, whereas reading Auden is like doing a parachute-drop: for a while the view is wonderful, but then you end up on your back in the middle of a ploughed field and in the wrong county.

Alan Bennett
— "Instead of a Present", p. 323 (1982)

Tags: One, good, things, Larkin, you, firmly, hand, cross, whereas

Share
twitter

Our father the novelist; my husband the poet. He belongs to the ages – just don't catch him at breakfast. Artists, celebrated for their humanity, they turn out to be scarcely human at all.

Alan Bennett
— "Kafka in Las Vegas", p. 348

Tags: Our, father, novelist, husband, poet, belongs, ages, catch, him

Share
twitter

Schweitzer in the Congo did not derive more moral credit than Larkin did for living in Hull.

Alan Bennett
— "Alas! Deceived", p. 367 (1993)

Tags: Congo, derive, more, moral, credit, Larkin, living, Hull

Share
twitter

Writer: What, above all, I'm primarily concerned with is the substance of life, the pith of reality. If I had to sum up my work, that's it, really. I'm taking the pith out of reality.

Alan Bennett
— "The Pith and its Pitfalls", p. 384 (1981)

Tags: Writer, What, above, concerned, substance, life, pith, reality, sum

Share
twitter

If you find yourself born in Barnsley and then set your sights on being Virginia Woolf it is not going to be roses all the way.

Alan Bennett
— "The Pith and its Pitfalls", p. 385 (1981)

Tags: you, find, yourself, born, then, set, sights, Virginia, Woolf

Share
twitter

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

Alan Bennett
— Alan Bennett, Getting On (1972), Act I

Tags: Anarchism, We, started, trying, set, small, anarchist, community, people

Share
twitter

Too late. It was all too late. But she went on, determined as ever and always trying to catch up.

Alan Bennett
— The Uncommon Reader

Tags: never give up, too, late, went, determined, ever, always, trying, catch

Share
twitter
  • 1
  • 2
  • »
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Examples
    • See in a sentence
    • Example articles
  • Quotes
    • Famous Quotes
    • Quote Articles
  • Spanish
    • Spanish-English Translation
    • Reference
  • Reference
    • Education
    • ESL
    • Grammar
    • Abbreviations
    • Biography
    • Books & Literature
    • Examples
    • Foreign Languages
    • Resources
    • Slideshows
  • Word Finder
    • Word Finder
    • 4 Pics 1 Word Answers
    • Anagram Solver
    • Unscramble
    • Word Cookies Cheat
    • Word Game Dictionary
    • Word Unscrambler
    • Words With Friends Cheat
Share
  • Home
  • Quotes
  • Authors
  • Alan Bennett
Share
Word Finder Scrabble® points: 13 More on Word Finder →

Follow YourDictionary

Get our free Amazon Alexa Skills!

Join YourDictionary today

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Please set a username for yourself.
People will see it as Author Name with your public flash cards.