Tom Brown's School Days Quotes

“"Bullies are cowards, and one coward makes many..."”

“Gambling makes boys selfish and cruel as well as men.”

“"Every man isn't born to be a martyr."”

“"Triste lupus, the sorrowful wolf," he began.”

“Failures slide off them like July rain off a duck's back feathers.”

“"I don't object to a compromise where you don't give up your principle."”

“[H]e who has conquered his own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world.”

“Wikicommons: -inline”

“The spirit of his father was in him, and the Friend to whom his father had left him did not neglect the trust.”

“We boys had an idea that birds couldn't count, and were quite content as long as you left one egg. I hope it is so.”

“Ah! light words of those whom we love and honor, what a power ye are, and how carelessly wielded by those who can use you!”

“It was no light act of courage in those days, my dear boys, for a little fellow to say his prayers publicly, even at Rugby.”

“It's more than a game, it's an institution.”

“Two or three years, more or less, and then the steadily advancing, blessed wave will pass over your names as it has passed over ours.”

“"There are times when there is only one way, and that the highest, and then the men are found to stand in the breach."”

“But the world goes on its way, and the wheel turns, and the wrongs of the Browns, like other wrongs, seem in a fair way to get righted.”

“Wikisource: Tom Brown's School Days (6th ed)”

“"But look here now, you must answer straight up when the fellows speak to you, and don't be afraid. If you're afraid, you'll get bullied."”

“Internet Archive: LibriVox recording of the text”

“The evil that men and boys, too, do, lives after them: Flashman was gone, but our boys, as hinted above, still felt the effects of his hate.”