1
" These things I recount, not for vainglory (for they were not particularly good poems), but to reveal something of the mood of Brookfield, in which a boy could be eccentric enough to write poetry and subversive enough to write pacifist and revolu tionary poetry without being either persecuted or ostracised. As a matter of fact, I was editor of the school magazine, and wrote for it articles, stories, and poems of all kinds and in all moods. Nobody tried to censor them; nobody tried to depose or harass me. Looking back on this genial indifference, it seems to me that Brookfield in wartime was not only less barbarian than the world outside it, but also less barbarian than many institutions in what we have since chosen to call peacetime. "
― James Hilton , To You Mr. Chips: More Stories of Mr. Chips and the True Story Behind the World's Most Beloved Schoolmaster
20
" 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
To You Mr. Chips: More Stories of Mr. Chips and the True Story Behind the World's Most Beloved Schoolmaster