142
" In politics she was a radical, with leanings toward the views of people like Bernard Shaw and William Morris. All her ideas and opinions she poured out to Chips during those summer afternoons at Wasdale Head; and he, because he was not very articulate, did not at first think it worth while to contradict them. Her friend went away, but she stayed; what COULD you do with such a person, Chips thought. He used to hobble with sticks along a footpath leading to the tiny church; there was a stone slab on the wall, and it was comfortable to sit down, facing the sunlight and the green-brown majesty of the Gable and listening to the chatter of—well, yes, Chips had to admit it— a very beautiful girl. "
― James Hilton , Good-Bye, Mr. Chips
148
" Systems, my boy, are hard things to fight. I warn you of that.… Well, I must do something with you—umph—I suppose. What do you—umph—suggest?” “I—I don’t know, sir.” “The—umph—usual?” “If you like, sir.” “Umph—as if I care—so long as you’re satisfied—umph … but there’s one thing, Waveney …” “Yes, sir?” “Be—be kind, my boy.” “Kind, sir?” “Yes—umph—even when you’re fighting systems. Because there are—umph—human beings—behind those systems.… And now—umph—run along.” Chips watched the boy’s receding figure as he walked to the door across the study carpet; then, with a half-mile to himself, he called out: “Oh, Waveney——” “Yes, sir?” “What—umph—are you going to be when you grow up?” “I don’t know, sir.” “Well—umph—I think I can tell you. You’re going to be either—umph—a great man or—umph—a confounded nuisance.… Or—umph—both … as so many of ’em are.… Remember that.… Good-bye, my boy.… "
― James Hilton , To You Mr. Chips: More Stories of Mr. Chips and the True Story Behind the World's Most Beloved Schoolmaster
155
" He thought he had never seen the mountain look more beautiful, and he remembered, with a sharp ache of longing, his first meeting with his wife on another mountain not many miles away—the lovely girl whose marriage and death had taken place twenty years before, yet whose memory still lay as fresh as moonlight in his heart. And he knew, in some ways, that it was David as well as the mountain that had made him think of her, for she would have liked David, would have known how to deal with him—she had always known how to deal with boys, and whatever he himself had learned of that difficult art, the most had been from her. "
― James Hilton , To You Mr. Chips: More Stories of Mr. Chips and the True Story Behind the World's Most Beloved Schoolmaster