Frank Macdonald

“Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader's imagination as the characters in their books. Nor did they seem to think one had done them a kindness by reading their writings. Rather they had done one the kindness by writing them.”
― Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

“...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

“All the effort went into getting there and then I had nothing left. I thought I'd got somewhere, then I found I had to go on.”
― Alan Bennett, The History Boys

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