Clichés can be quite fun. That's how they got to be clichés.

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds.

One of the hardest things for boys to learn is that a teacher is human. One of the hardest things for a teacher to learn is not to try and tell them.

All the effort went into getting there and then I had nothing left. I thought I'd got somewhere, then I found I had to go on.

Have you ever thought, headmaster, that your standards might perhaps be a little out of date? Of course they're out of date. Standards are always out of date. That is what makes them standards.

Cloisters, ancient libraries ... I was confusing learning with the smell of cold stone.