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I had inherited what my father called the art of the advocate, or the irritating habit of looking for the flaw in any argument.

John Mortimer

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John Mortimer
Age: 85 †
Born: 1923
Born: April 21
Died: 2009
Died: January 16
Barrister
Novelist
Poet Lawyer
Screenwriter
Writer
Hampstead Village
Sir John Clifford Mortimer
Sir John Mortimer
John Clifford Mortimer
Habit
Called
Flaw
Looking
Irritating
Father
Inherited
Art
Advocate
Flaws
Luck
Argument

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All the flower children were as alike as a congress of accountants and about as interesting.
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Dying is a matter of slapstick and pratfalls. The ageing process is not gradual or gentle. It rushes up, pushes you over and runs off laughing. No one should grow old who isn't ready to appear ridiculous.
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Never believe a rumour until you hear it officially denied.
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I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.
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What obsesses a writer starting out on a lifetime's work is the panic-stricken search for a voice of his own.
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The only rule I have found to have any validity in writing is not to bore yourself.
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Check-ups are, in my experience, a grave mistake all they do is allow the quack of your choice to tell you that you have some sort of complaint that you were far happier not knowing about.
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It is desperately important to remember when enough is enough, when you've finished the scene.
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Success is good for the character.
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To escape jury duty in England, wear a bowler hat and carry a copy of the Daily telegraph.
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We may not be the creme de la creme, but we are the creme de la scum.
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There's more of yourself in a book than a play. that's why we know all about Dickens and not much about Shakespeare. Ben Jonson murdered people Marlowe was a spy Shakespeare just sat in the corner and took notes.
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The officers of the branch of the Force (the Obscene Publications Squad) have a discouraging club tie, on which a book is depicted being cut in half by a larger pair of scissors.
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The people look forbidding, solemn, marked by that impossible ideal, Communism, which, like Christianity, seemed to demand too much of humanity and, falling into the wrong hands, led too easily to horrible brutality.
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Marriage is like pleading guilty to an indefinite sentence. Without parole.
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No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails.
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A war against terrorism is an impracticable conception if it means fighting terrorism with terrorism.
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I knew nothing about farce until I read Puce a l'Oreille, and had no idea what a deadly serious business it is.
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The point at which beliefs meet may be more significant, more useful to contemplate, than their sources.
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