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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.

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
Play
Dickens
Much
Shakespeare
People
Sat
Corner
Corners
Notes
Marlowe
Took
Murdered
Book
Spy

More quotes by John Mortimer

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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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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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I had inherited what my father called the art of the advocate, or the irritating habit of looking for the flaw in any argument.
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I don't think you ever feel a success really because everything could always be done better than you've done it.
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Farce is tragedy played at a thousand revolutions per minute.
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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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No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense, and relatively clean finger nails.
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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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I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth foregoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward.
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There is always time for failure
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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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Never believe a rumour until you hear it officially denied.
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Like childhood, old age is irresponsible, reckless, and foolhardy. Children and old people have everything to gain and nothing much to lose. It's middle-age which is cursed by the desperate need to cling to some finger-hold halfway up the mountain, to conform, not to cause trouble, to behave well.
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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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To escape jury duty in England, wear a bowler hat and carry a copy of the Daily telegraph.
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Marriage is like pleading guilty to an indefinite sentence. Without parole.
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I found criminal clients easy and matrimonial clients hard. Matrimonial clients hate each other so much and use their children to hurt each other in beastly ways. Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them and they're usually quite peaceful and agreeable.
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Hell must be a place where you are only allowed to read what you agree with.
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I suppose true sexual equality will come when a general called Anthea is found having an unwise lunch with a young, unreliable model from Spain.
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My father, to whom I owe so much, never told me the difference between right and wrong now I think that's why I remain so greatly in his debt.
John Mortimer