Best play I ever read

High School English Comes Rushing Back

I have marveled across many years of the power connected to books read for my high school English classes. Most notably, perhaps: My Name is Asher Lev, Animal Farm, 1984, Brave New World and A Man For All Seasons.

The latter, especially. Written by Robert Bolt, quotes from that volume are firmly ensconced in my mind and have stayed with me for well over forty years. It is a good reminder, I suspect, of the influence early reading can have on life’s pilgrimage. At any rate, some of those lines:

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“William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas 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 is 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, do 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!”

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As a professor with other tempting ambitions this is my favorite line from the play. Richard Rich wants to be a lawyer:

Sir Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one.

Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it?

Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.”

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The scenario: More refuses to take King Henry the VIII’s oath of supremacy as his very life is on the line. At More's trial, Rich lies about More's treason resulting in More's martyrdom. On his way out of the courtroom, More asks to see the medallion around Rich's neck signifying his new service as Solicitor General to Wales. To which More says:

“For Wales? Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world…but for Wales!”

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“When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water (he cups his hands) and if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again. Some men aren't capable of this, but I'd be loathe to think your father one of them.”

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In the very last lines of the play when the “Common Man” (who seemingly lives life on a leash) speaks as the only man of principle - More - has been beheaded.

“I'm breathing . . . Are you breathing too? . . . It's nice, isn't it? It isn't difficult to keep alive, friends... just don't -make trouble-or if you must make trouble, make the sort of trouble that's expected. Well, I don't need to tell you that. Good night. If we should bump into one another, recognize me”

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So? Read a good book. Memorize some of its lines. Let them sink deep into your psyche and your character over the next few decades. If you are a parent, a mentor, a discipler, a teacher - get those under your tutelage to do the same.