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John Betjeman

62 quotes

“I think the mystery of its winding drive gave me a respect for the system of hereditary land owing which I have never shaken off. (Rawsden Manor Wilts.)”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ghastly Good Taste (1933)
“The test of an abstract picture, for me, is not my first reaction to it, but how long I can stand it hanging on the wall of a room where I am living.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Piper (Penguin Books, 1944), p. 12
“It was through looking at churches that I came to believe in the reason churches were built.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Guest (ed.) The Best of Betjeman (Penguin Modern Classics, 1985). Written in 1948 (Blisland)
“History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First and Last Loves (1952)
“Hymns are the poetry of the people.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Radio (4 July 1975)
“There are two things you need for a jolly good hymn. The first is a set of words that expresses the mood or sentiment of the worshipper. The second—and perhaps even more important—is a good tune ... with a simple popular melody.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Radio 4 (2 August 1978)
“Hymn tunes are the nearest we've got to English folk music.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Radio 4 (2 August 1978)
“One mark of good verse is surprise.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Radio 4 (2 August 1978)
“Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry...about the country, the suburbs and the seaside...then there comes love...and increasingly, the fear of death.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Third Programme (1949)
“I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Talk. BBC Third Programme (1949)
“Ghastly Good Taste, or a Depressing Story of the Rise and Fall of English Architecture.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Title and sub-title of book (1933)
“Saint Pancras was a fourteen-year old Christian boy who was martyred in Rome in AD 304 by the Emperor Diocletian. In England he is better known as a railway station.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: London's Historic Railway Stations (1973)
“All I can say is that with age I find myself enjoying more and more the words and rhythms of the Book of Common Prayer. Apart from their meaning, they sound right and they are not talking down to us by being matey, and where they're a bit vague and archaic, that makes them grand and historic. The words give me time to meditate and pray; they are so familiar, they are like my birthplace, and I don't want them pulled down. We are all of us preservationists who have had the luck to come out of the womb and with all our faculties.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Brian Morris (ed.) Ritual Murder: Essays on Liturgical Reform (1980) p. 31
“Yes, I haven't had enough sex.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1983 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In an interview for the television documentary Time With Betjeman (February 1983), having been asked whether he had any regrets.
“Christmas and Easter may be feasts For congregations and for priests, And so may Whitsun. All the same, They do not fill my meagre frame. For me the only feast at all Is Autumn’s Harvest Festival.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Diary of a Church Mouse", from Collected Poems (1958)
“A large and most unfriendly rat Comes in to see what we are at. He says he thinks there is no God And yet he comes... it’s rather odd.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A Low Church mouse, who thinks that I Am too papistical, and High.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within the human world I know Such goings-on could not be so, For human beings only do What their religion tells them to. [...] But all the same it’s strange to me How very full the church can be With people I don’t see at all Except at Harvest Festival.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Safe were those evenings of the pre-war world When firelight shone on green linoleum, I heard the church bells hollowing out the sky, Deep beyond deep, like never-ending stars.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Summoned by Bells (1960)
“The dread of beatings! Dread of being late! And, greatest dread of all, the dread of games!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Summoned by Bells (1960) ch. 7
“It's strange that those we miss the most Are those we take for granted.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Hon. Sec.", line 39, from High and Low (1966)
“I am a young executive. No cuffs than mine are cleaner; I have a Slimline brief-case and I use the firm's Cortina.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Executive", line 1, from A Nip in the Air (1974)
“Sing on, with hymns uproarious, Ye humble and aloof, Look up! and oh how glorious He has restored the roof!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Church’s Restoration In eighteen-eighty-three Has left for contemplation Not what there used to be.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh! Chintzy, Chintzy cheeriness, Half dead and half alive!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Broad of Church and ‘broad of Mind’, Broad before and broad behind, A keen ecclesiologist, A rather dirty Wykehamist.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He sipped at a weak hock and seltzer As he gazed at the London skies Through the Nottingham lace of the curtains Or was it his bees-winged eyes? He rose, and he put down The Yellow Book. He staggered—and, terrible-eyed, He brushed past the palms on the staircase And was helped to a hansom outside.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Spirits of well-shot woodcock, partridge, snipe Flutter and bear him up the Norfolk sky.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old men in country houses hear clocks ticking Over thick carpets with a deadened force.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old men who never cheated, never doubted, Communicated monthly, sit and stare At the new suburb stretched beyond the run-way Where a young man lands hatless from the air.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whist upon whist upon whist upon whist drive, in Institute, Legion and Social Club. Horny hands that hold the aces which this morning held the plough.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans. Spare their women for Thy Sake, And if that is not too easy, We will pardon Thy Mistake. But, gracious Lord, whate'er shall be, Don't let anyone bomb me.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Think of what our Nation stands for, Books from Boots and country lanes, Free speech, free passes, class distinction, Democracy and proper drains. Lord, put beneath Thy special care One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He would have liked to say goodbye, Shake hands with many friends. In Highgate now his finger-bones Stick through his finger-ends.You, God, who treat him thus and thus, Say, "Save his soul and pray." You ask me to believe You and I only see decay.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pam, I adore you, Pam, you great big mountainous sports girl, Whizzing them over the net, full of the strength of five: That old Malvernian brother, you zephyr and khaki shorts girl, Although he’s playing for Woking, can’t stand up to your wonderful backhand drive.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gas was on in the Institute, The flare was up in the gymn, A man was running a mineral line, A lass was singing a hymn, When Captain Webb the Dawley man, Captain Webb from Dawley, Came swimming along in the old canal That carries the bricks to Lawley.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament — you against me!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We sat in the car park till twenty to one And now I'm engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn.Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, How mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won. The warm-handled racket is back in its press, But my shock-headed victor, she loves me no less.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By roads ‘not adopted’, by woodlanded ways, She drove to the club in the late summer haze, Into nine-o’clock Camberley, heavy with bells And mushroomy, pine-woody, evergreen smells.Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, I can hear from the car-park the dance has begun. Oh! full Surrey twilight! importunate band! Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl’s hand!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stony seaboard, far and foreign, Stony hills poured over space, Stony outcrop of the Burren, Stones in every fertile place.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh shall I see the Thames again? The prow-promoted gems again, As beefy ATS Without their hats Come shooting through the bridge? And "cheerioh" and "cheeri-bye" Across the waste of waters die, And low the mists of evening lie And lightly skims the midge.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray Of prunus and forsythia across the public way, For a full spring-tide of blossom seethed and departed hence, Leaving land-locked pools of jonquils by sunny garden fence.And a constant sound of flushing runneth from windows whereThe toothbrush too is airing in this new North Oxford air.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No hope. And the X-ray photographs under his arm Confirm the message. His wife stands timidly by. The opposite brick-built house looks lofty and calm, Its chimneys steady against the mackerel sky.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And behind their frail partitions Business women lie and soak, Seeing through the draughty skylight Flying clouds and railway smoke.Rest you there, poor unbelov'd ones, Lap your loneliness in heat, All too soon the tiny breakfast, Trolley-bus and windy street!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But I'm dying now and done for, What on earth was all the fun for? I am ill and old and terrified and tight.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the licorice fields at Pontefract My love and I did meet And many a burdened licorice bush Was blooming round our feet; Red hair she had and golden skin, Her sulky lips were shaped for sin, Her sturdy legs were flannel-slack'd The strongest legs in Pontefract.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And girls in slacks remember Dad, And oafish louts remember Mum, And sleepless children’s hearts are glad, And Christmas-morning bells say ‘Come!’ Even to shining ones who dwell Safe in the Dorchester Hotel. And is it true? And is it true, This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue, A Baby in an ox’s stall? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me?”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No love that in a family dwells, No carolling in frosty air, Nor all the steeple-shaking bells Can with this single Truth compare— That God was man in Palestine And lives to-day in Bread and Wine.”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source