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

Alan Bennett Literature See all quotes by Alan Bennett →

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“Writer: I don’t know whether you've ever looked into a miner's eyes – for any length of time, that is. Because it is the loveliest blue you've ever seen. I think perhaps that's why I live in Ibiza, because the blue of the Mediterranean, you see, reminds me of the blue of the eyes of those Doncaster miners.”

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

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

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

“Headmaster: Mark my words, when a society has to resort to the lavatory for its humour, the writing is on the wall.”

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

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"The dreary alternative of agnosticism, which the young students are taught to accept as the final word of science on the grave mysteries of life and thought, and man’s hopes of personal communion with…"

— Mahadev Govind Ranade

Law1842–1901

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"The rain, the rain, the rain. You can't even hear it outside the window but still it's a sad thing. Rain, the grade school teachers say, makes the trees and flowers grow, but we're not trees and flowe…"

— Daniel Handler

Literature1970

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"You wretches detestable on land and sea: you who seek equality with lords are unworthy to live. Give this message to your colleagues: rustics you were, and rustics you are still; you will remain in bo…"

— Richard II of England

Politics

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"As the enemy have the advantage of a water transportation, and the spring is the most difficult part of the year for a land conveyance, it is most probable, if they have any designs upon this post, th…"

— Nathanael Greene

Military1742–1786

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