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Quotes by English Authors

"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action."

"The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself."

"No, I didn't quite know to what extent the football might be, but it was quite a bonus for me to try to learn new skills and to keep fit at the same time."

"The superiority of one mind over another depends on the rapidity with which experiences are thus organised."

"Tis not seasonable to call a man traitor, that has an army at his heels."

"A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was."


"But above that, most mature adults can hold their attention on something for 45 minutes, whether they like it or not. But above that requires training."


"Argument is conclusive, but it does not remove doubt, so that the mind may rest in the sure knowledge of the truth, unless it finds it by the method of experiment."

"So much does suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations of men."

"(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion."

"I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy,' because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things."

"I'm currently doing Undeclared an American TV show set in a college. It just got aired and got massive ratings so hopefully that'll screen in the UK soon."

"Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen."

"Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses."


"You never know what you will learn till you start writing. Then you discover truths you never knew existed."

"I prefer the new me a million times more over than the old one."

"While trying to protect the republic, the conspirators in Julius Caesar enable Mark Antony to triumph. In Rose Rage, the more Henry VI tries to fix things, the more they go wrong."

"My best chance is that, in a happy moment, I hit upon St Francis as the subject for a series of plays. Others might have written them better: but, as I have written them, the advantage will probably remain mine."

"These natives are a very good people; for when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed that I was afraid of their bows; and, taking their arrows, the broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire."

"It's been a misery for me, living with Christine Keeler."

"I wasn't as fit as I would of liked to have been, going to the World Cup, but I'm not sure what difference that made."

"I thought if Oasis could get away with sounding like The Beatles, I could get away with sounding like Abba."

"Someone like John would want to end the Beatle period and start the Yoko period. He wouldn't like either to interfere with the other."

"Have you thought of an ending?""Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant.""Oh, that won't do! Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?""It will do well, if it ever came to that.""Ah! And where will they live? That's what I often wonder."

"And it's what you never will write," said the Controller. "Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello."


"Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim."
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