Timms Quotes in The History Boys (2006)

[about A.E. Housman]

Timms: Wasn't he a nancy, sir?

Hector: Foul, festering, grubby-minded little trollop! Do not use that word!

[Hector hits Timms on the head with an exercise book]

Timms: But you use it, sir!

Hector: I do, sir, I know, but I am far gone in age and decrepitude.

[in an art-appreciation lesson, discussing the nudes of Michaelangelo]

Timms: These aren't women. They're just men with tits. And the tits look as if they've been put on with an ice-cream scoop!

Timms: You've got crap handwriting, sir!

Tom Irwin: It's your eyesight that's bad, and we know what that's caused by.

Timms: Sir! Is that a coded reference to the mythical dangers of self-abuse?

Tom Irwin: Possibly. It might even be a joke.

Dakin: A joke, sir. Oh. Are jokes going to be a feature, sir? We need to know as it affects our mindset.

Tom Irwin: You were quoting somebody. Auden, isn't it?

Timms: [Expansively] Was I, sir? Sometimes it just flows out, y'know, brims over!

[Timms is trying to duck out of Athletics]

Wilkes: What's the matter with you, lad?

Timms: I've got a note.

Wilkes: How much for?

[laughs]

Wilkes: I don't *do* notes! Get changed!

Timms: Sir...

Wilkes: God doesn't do notes, either. Did Jesus Christ say, "Can I be excused the Crucifixion?" No!

Scripps: Actually, sir, I think he *did*...

Timms: I don't always understand poetry!

Hector: You don't always understand it? Timms, I never understand it. But learn it now, know it now and you will understand it... whenever.

[at the police station after the raid on the brothel, police officers Lennox and Timms are planning to charge Christine]

Lennox: We're looking to make several charges - including possessing obscene articles for gain, selling liquor without a licence, running a disorderly house and keeping a brothel.

Christine Painter: I just perform a service.

Timms: You *will* go down for this.

Christine Painter: I only go down for a price, dear, and I doubt if you could afford it.