"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours"
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: The Film)

"What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren't long enough for the reading she wanted to do. "
— Alan Bennett

"A book is a device to ignite the imagination."
— Alan Bennett

""How do I define history? It's just one fucking thing after another"
- Rudge"
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: A Play)

"You don't put your life into your books, you find it there."
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

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

"Books are not about passing time. They're about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass, one just wishes one had more of it. If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand. "
— Alan Bennett

"But then books, as I'm sure you know, seldom prompt a course of action. Books generally just confirm you in what you have, perhaps unwittingly, decided to do already. You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated. A book, as it were, closes the book. "
— Alan Bennett

"'Above literature?' said the Queen. 'Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.'"
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

"Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key."
— Alan Bennett

"...But what is it all about, what am I trying to do, is there a message? Nobody knows, and I certainly don't. If one could answer these questions in any other way than by writing what one has written, then there would be no point in writing at all."
— Alan Bennett (Writing Home)

"I saw someone peeing in Jermym Street the other day. I thought, is this the end of civilization as we know it? Or is it simply someone peeing in Jermyn Street?"
— Alan Bennett

"How do I define history? It's just one f***ing thing after another."
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: A Play)

"One of the hardest things for boys to learn is that a teacher is human. One of the hardest things for a teacher to learn is not to try and tell them."
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: A Play)

"Don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars. "
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: A Play)

"...she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing: that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had been chosen to read as others were chosen to write."
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

""The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you thought special...particular to you. And here is it...set down by someone else, a person you've never met. Maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out and taken yours." - Hector, The History Boys."
— Alan Bennett (The History Boys: A Play)

"
The best moments in reading are when you run across something--a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things, that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand had come out and taken yours. - from "The History Boys""
— Alan Bennett

"Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting. Briefing closes down a subject, reading opens it up."
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

"'I have to seem like a human being all the time, but I seldom have to be one. I have people to do that for me.' (written by Queen of England)"
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you thought unique and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours. "
— Alan Bennett

""Above literature?" said the Queen. "Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.""
— Alan Bennett

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."
— Alan Bennett

"Books... seldom prompt a course of action. Books generally just confirm you in what you have, perhaps unwittingly, decided to do already. You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated."
— Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader: A Novella)

"What she was finding also was how one book led to another, doors kept opening wherever she turned and the days weren't long enough for the reading she wanted to do."
— Alan Bennett