Standards are always out of date. That's what makes them standards.
Alan BennettRead
To read is to withdraw.To make oneself unavailable. One would feel easier about it if the pursuit inself were less...selfish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Reading can be an act of retreat that isolates us, often seen as a selfish endeavor despite its personal rewards.
In this quote, Alan Bennett suggests that reading involves a withdrawal from the outside world, leading to a sense of unavailability to others. This act may feel selfish because while one immerses in literature for personal growth or escape, it also distances them from social interactions and obligations, making the individual reflect on whether such solitary pursuits are justified despite their inherent value.
Themes
ReadingWithdrawalSelfishnessLiteratureIsolation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of reading on social life during a book club.
More from Alan Bennett
All quotes βTo begin with, it's true, she read with trepidation and some unease. The sheer endlessness of books outfaced her and she had no idea how to go on; there was no system to her reading, with one book leading to another, and often she had two or three on the go at the same time.
Alan BennettRead
A book is a device to ignite the imagination.
Alan BennettRead
Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.
Alan BennettRead
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 BennettRead
...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 BennettRead
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