Thomas Edward Brown said:

After all, what sparks of poetry can be kicked out of a football ? We were a football.

As I pass it, I feel as if I saw a dear old mother, sweet in her weakness, trembling at the approach of her dissolution, but not appealing to me against the inevitable, rather endeavouring to reassure me by her patience, and pointing to a hopeful future.

But, if He comes not, neither do thou go, Till Vesper chime. Belike thou then shalt know He hath been with thee all the time.

Every man should follow the bent of his nature in art and letters, always provided that he does not offend against the rules of morality and good taste.

I feel very lonely in Oxford. I seem to have no sympathy with the men around me.

I must be free... free to do what I like, say what I like, write what I like, within the limits prescribed for me by my own sense of what is seemly and fitting.

It is not my wish to lounge about the college and fatten on a fellowship all my days. I am always trying to look upon a college life as a medium not an end.

Literature is my calling To hold up the mirror to my countrymen comes natural to me; and in the open field of invention I am not without hopes of giving them pleasure.

The best scheme of Phonetics is a stiff uncertain thing.