Page 37
“

Often in the theatre I can hardly hear myself talking or assuring my doxy that so-and-so is the same fellow that played so-and-so in so-and-so, he's very good, he's a civil servant in the Department of Agriculture, I met a sister of his in Skerries, and so on. Actors should conduct themselves like the rest of us and practise the unobtrusive intonation of the gentleman.

— Brian O'Nolan

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Often in the theatre I can hardly hear myself talking or assuring my doxy that so-and-so is the same fellow that played so-and-so in so-and-so, he's very good, he's a civil servant in the Department of Agriculture, I met a sister of his in Skerries, and so on. Actors should conduct themselves like the rest of us and practise the unobtrusive intonation of the gentleman." in the context of "Page 37" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Brian O'Nolan" (Quotes, The Best of Myles (1968): The Best of Myles is a posthumously published collection of extracts from Myles na Gopaleen’s "Cruiskeen Lawn" column in The Irish Times. Unless otherwise stated quotations here are taken from the 1977 edition .) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About Brian O'Nolan

Brian O'Nolan (5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966) was an Irish novelist, journalist and humorist, better known by his pseudonyms Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen (or Myles na Gopaleen).