Whatever the rest of the world thinks of the English gentleman, the English lady regards him apprehensively as something between God and a goat and equally formidable on both scores.

... the English think of an opinion as something which a decent person, if he has the misfortune to have one, does all he can to hide.

If the factory people outside the colleges live under the discipline of narrow means, the people inside live under almost every other kind of discipline except that of narrow means -- from the fruity austerities of learning, through the iron rations of English gentlemanhood, down to the modest disadvantages of occupying cold stone buildings without central heating and having to cross two or three quadrangles to take a bath.

A person may be totally unimaginative and have the social vision of a mole, and we still call him a decent man.

I was so embarrassed I could feel my nerves curling like bacon over a hot fire.

democracy produces both heroes and villains, but it differs from a fascist state in that it does not produce a hero who is a villain.

The only way not to worry about the race problem is to be doing something about it yourself. When you are, natural human vanity makes you feel that now the thing is in good hands.