Christ asked for everything he got. — Simon Raven

"Scholarship was one thing, drudgery another."

"Gentlemen can now only behave as such, or be tolerated as such, in circumstances that are manifestly contrived or unreal."

"He replaced his glasses, which were now smeared with mucus, and manfully assumed what he liked to think was the cautious but enlightened manner of one born to high responsibility which only conscience forbade him abrogate as modesty suggested."

"And so, at the age of thirty, I had successively disgraced myself with three fine institutions, each of which had made me free of its full and rich resources, had trained me with skill and patience, and had shown me nothing but forbearance and charity when I failed in trust."

"The highest moral character can procure one no preference among the shades."

"Dusk is the time when men whisper of matters about which they remain silent in the full light of the sun."