Quotes by John Betjeman - Page 1

One mark of good verse is surprise
John Betjeman / Poet
Mark
Surprise
Verses
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Hymns are the poetry of the people.
John Betjeman / Poet
Hymns
People
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Silver and ermine and red faces full of port wine.
John Betjeman / Poet
Faces
Port
Red
Silver
Wine
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Hymn tunes are the nearest we've got to English folk music.
John Betjeman / Poet
Folks
Hymns
Tunes
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Imprisoned in a cage of sound, even the trivial seems profound
John Betjeman / Poet
Cages
Profound
Sound
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Lord, reserve for me a crown, And do not let my shares go down.
John Betjeman / Poet
Crowns
Lord
Rewards
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Approval of what is approved of Is as false as a well-kept vow.
John Betjeman / Poet
Approval
Belief
Vow
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And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.
John Betjeman / Poet
Food
Dear Lord
Waiting
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I am still reeling with delight at the soaring majesty of Norfolk.
John Betjeman / Poet
Delight
Majesty
Norfolk
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It's strange that those we miss the most Are those we take for granted.
John Betjeman / Poet
Granted
Missing
Strange
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I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.
John Betjeman / Poet
Good
Ifs
Thinking
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I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.
John Betjeman / Poet
Interest
People
Thinking
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A whispering and watery Norfolk sound Telling of all the moonlit reeds around.
John Betjeman / Poet
Reeds
Sound
Whispering
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Oh! full Surrey twilight! importunate band! Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl's hand!
John Betjeman / Poet
Girl
Games
Twilight
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Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.
John Betjeman / Poet
Happiness
Bonus
Cold
Give Me
Giving
Harvest
Laughter
World Me Lose
Hold
Lose
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Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.
John Betjeman / Poet
Childhood
Children
Dark
Grows
Reason
Sight
Before
Out
Hour
Measured
Sights
Smells
Sounds
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History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.
John Betjeman / Poet
History
Given
Sides
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Lovers of Norfolk churches can never agree which is the best and I think one is either a Salle or a Cawston man.
John Betjeman / Poet
Men
Church
Thinking
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On out deathbeds we're not going to regret all the work we didn't do. We're going to regret all the sex we didn't have!
John Betjeman / Poet
Deathbed
Regret
Sex
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Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a necessity like petrol. But to me it's the oil of life.
John Betjeman / Poet
Luxury
Modern World
Oil
Petrol
Views
World View
Necessity
View
Too Many People
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I have a Vision of the Future, chum. The workers flats in fields of soya beans tower up like silver pencils, score on score.
John Betjeman / Poet
Fields
Towers
Visions Of The Future
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People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.
John Betjeman / Poet
Home
Garden
People
People Back More
Gardens
Houses
Railways
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Oh Wasn't it naughty of Smudges? Oh, Mummy, I'm sick with disgust. She threww me in front of the judges, And my silly old collar-bone's bust.
John Betjeman / Poet
Horse
Naughty
Silly
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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 / Poet
Country
Fear Of Death
Topography
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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 / Poet
Running
Men
Air
Land
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And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.
John Betjeman / Poet
Passion
Past
Thinking
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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 / Poet
Bombs
Mistake
Sake
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Ludlow....is probably the loveliest town in England with its hill of Georgian houses ascending from the river Teme to the great tower of the cross-shaped church, rising behind a classic market building.
John Betjeman / Poet
Church
House
Rivers
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And London shops on Christmas Eve Are strung with silver bells and flowers As hurrying clerks the City leave To pigeon-haunted classic towers, And marbled clouds go scudding by The many-steepled London sky
John Betjeman / Poet
Clouds
Flower
Silver Bells
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There are two thing 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 / Poet
Hymns
Simple
Two
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Norfolk would not be Norfolk without a church tower on the horizon or round a corner up a lane. We cannot spare a single Norfolk church. When a church has been pulled down the country seems empty or is like a necklace with a jewel missing.
John Betjeman / Poet
Country
Jewels
Missing
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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 / Poet
Clouds
Loneliness
Lying
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What the Londoner sees in his mind's eye is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset, and the great arc of Barlow's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines, and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street.
John Betjeman / Poet
Eye
Mind
Sunset
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John Betjeman Quotes - Page 1

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