thought for the day

[ramtops]

from A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt's wonderful play about Sir Thomas More.

Roper:	So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More:	Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper:	I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More:	Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's laws, not God's - and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

if you've never seen it, it's available on DVD. I recommend it very highly. For a play set in the times of Henry VIII, it's remarkably appropriate for the times we live in now.

Comments

[wildemoose.livejournal.com]

Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...but for Wales?

[ramtops.livejournal.com]

it's a lion I married, a lion, a lion!

I'll have to go and watch it now ...

[pdcawley.livejournal.com]

It was on TV a few weeks back, and I watched it for the first time and was struck by that exchange as well. And all the 'confessions extracted by torture' stuff was rather close to home too.

[ramtops.livejournal.com]

I did it for ... O level, I think. Have loved it ever since.