John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was an English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter, and author...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth21 April 1923
arthritis attack full love man medical remember shocking
Attack the medical evidence. Remember the jury's full of rheumatism and arthritis and shocking gastric troubles. They love to see a medical man put through it.
antidote best children mile possible spot
Children can spot pomposity, insincerity and self-regard a mile off and are the best possible antidote to such diseases.
brilliance clean common english-novelist law relatively required
No brilliance is required in law, just common sense and relatively clean fingernails.
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The greatest horrors of our world, from the executions in Iran to the brutalities of the IRA, are committed by people who are totally sincere
english-novelist geriatric pleasure
There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward.
hate england hats
To escape jury duty in England, wear a bowler hat and carry a copy of the Daily telegraph.
years worry three
I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward.
funny-marriage guilty pleading
Marriage is like pleading guilty to an indefinite sentence. Without parole.
lonely growing-up father
I'd been told of all the things you're meant to feel when your father dies. Sudden freedom, growing up, the end of dependence, the step into the sunlight when no one is taller than you and you're in no one's shadow. I know what I felt. Lonely.
loyalty school parent
Loyalty to the school to which your parents pay to send you seemed to me like feeling loyalty to Selfridges.
character
Success is good for the character.
success thinking done
I don't think you ever feel a success really because everything could always be done better than you've done it...
war mean fighting
A war against terrorism is an impracticable conception if it means fighting terrorism with terrorism.
peaceful world murderer
Murderers have usually killed the one person in the world that was bugging them and they're usually quite peaceful and agreeable.