J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM, was an English author, novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth13 September 1894
civilization skills use
The world we know at present is in no fit state to take over the dreariest little meteor ... If we have the courage and patience, the energy and skill, to take us voyaging to other planets, then let us use some of these to tidy up and civilize this earth. One world at a time, please.
voice faces grumbling
I have always been a grumbler. I am designed for the part - sagging face, weighty underlip, rumbling, resonant voice. Money couldn't buy a better grumbling outfit.
writing hair play
Depending upon shock tactics is easy, whereas writing a good play is difficult. Pubic hair is no substitute for wit.
mind magic cold
A synopsis is a cold thing. You do it with the front of your mind. If you're going to stay with it, you never get quite the same magic as when you're going all out.
mean loss air
On the 1st of August, 1774, I endeavoured to extract air from mercurius calcinates per se [mercury oxide]; and I presently found that, by means of this lens, air was expelled from it very readily. … I admitted water to it [the extracted air], and found that it was not imbibed by it. But what surprized me more than I can well express, was, that a candle burned in this air with a remarkably vigorous flame… I was utterly at a loss how to account for it.
teach one-thing
To love to teach is one thing, to love those you teach is another.
focus christ
To make the most of Christmas, focus on Christ.
behind-you faces behinds
To put failure behind you, face up to it.
norwich old-places sensible
What a grand, higgledy-piggledy, sensible old place Norwich is!
race needs pressure
Production goes up and up because high pressure advertising and salesmanship constantly create new needs that must be satisfied: this is Admass- a consumer's race with donkeys chasing an electric carrot.
play people satisfaction
I'm in the business of providing people with secondary satisfactions. It wouldn't have done me much good if they had all written their own plays, would it?
men fool energy
Any fool can be fussy and rid himself of energy all over the place, but a man has to have something in him before he can settle down to do nothing.
change equality men
Accidents, try to change them - it's impossible. The accidental reveals man.
children garden public-opinion
Public opinion polls are rather like children in a garden, digging things up all the time to see how they're growing.