Best Eton Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“It started off very underprivileged, but got more affluent.' Amis suddenly smiles to himself, remembering a moment with his father. 'I remember saying – I'm very interested in class, generally – when I was going to this grammar full of Old Etonians – I remember asking my father if we were nouveau riche, and he replied: 'Well, we're very nouveau, but not very riche.' Which is about the size of it.”

Class Class Warfare Eton Aspirational Nouveau Riche Martin Amis

Book:The Martin Amis Interview

Source: The Martin Amis Interview

“It touches me to think that in his declining years he [George IV.] actually thought that he had led one of the charges at Waterloo. He would often describe the whole scene as it appeared to him at that supreme moment, and refer to the Duke of Wellington, saying, "Was it not so, Duke ? " " I have often heard you say so, your Majesty," the old soldier would reply, grimly. I am not sure that the old soldier was at Waterloo himself. In a room full of people he once referred to the battle as having been won upon the playing-fields of Eton. This was certainly a most unfortunate slip, seeing that all historians are agreed that it was fought on a certain field situate a few miles from Brussels.”

Waterloo Eton

Book:The Bodley Head Max Beerbohm;

Source: The Bodley Head Max Beerbohm;

“It's the weird thing Eton does - you're at school next to lords and earls and, in my case, Prince William, so you end up being used to dealing with those sorts of people.”

People Doe Ends School Used Next Lord Cases Weird Things Eton

Author:Eddie Redmayne

“As far as the physical miseries go, I am sure I will cope. I lived at Eton in the 1950s and I know all about life in uncomfortable quarters.”

Knows Misery Uncomfortable Quarters Eton

Author:Jonathan Aitken

“I am inclined to agree with the Head Master of Eton that pæderastic passions among schoolboys 'do no harm'; further, I think them the only redeeming feature of sexual life at public schools.”

Thinking School Passion Masters Agree Harm Features Public School Redeeming Eton

Author:Aleister Crowley

“Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.”

Inspirational Wise Ignorance Bliss Folly Gray Being Wise Ignorance Is Bliss Stupidity And Ignorance Ignorance Is Not Bliss Eton Blissful Ignorance If Ignorance Is Bliss

Author:Thomas Gray

“My education [takes place] during the holidays from Eton.”

Holiday Eton

Author:Osbert Sitwell

“My habit of attacking Huns dangling from their parachutes led to many arguments in the mess. Some officers, of the Eton and Sandhurst type, thought it was 'unsportsmanlike' to do it. Never having been to a public school, I was unhampered by such considerations of form. I just pointed out that there was a bloody war on, and that I intended to avenge my pals.”

War School Form Type Habit Argument Mess Consideration Aviation Combat Officers Bloody Public School Attacking Pals Parachutes Eton

Author:James Ira Thomas Jones

“I had two experiences of criminality: one was my conman father, the other was teaching at Eton”

Two Father Teaching Criminality Eton

Author:John le Carre

“Free milk will be provided in Hoxton and Shoredith, in Eton and Harrow. What more social equality can you have than that?”

Social Milk Social Equality Eton

Author:Ellen Wilkinson

“I'd like thousands of schools as good as the one I went to, Eton.”

School Eton

Author:Boris Johnson

“When historians get to write the truth about this completely unnecessary referendum [Brexit] they won't say it was a vote demanded by the British people to decide their national destiny. They will say it was the final battle in a decades-long Tory Civil War, at the heart of which was a fight to the death between two Old Etonians, David Cameron and Boris Johnson, for the hollow crown. A sort of Eton Wall Game. Where the poorest are put up against the wall and shot.”

People Writing Heart Long Two War Fighting Games Destiny Wall Battle Shots Vote Finals British Decades Civil War Historian Crowns Unnecessary Hollow Johnson Poorest Cameron Referendums Eton

Author:Brian Reade

“Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.”

Has Beens War Lost Fields Battle Opening Playing Fields Waterloo Eton

Author:George Orwell

“My brother said that at Eton, students were told caning builds character. I suppose girls are caned less because we aren't thought to have much character." "Which is the sort of thing males say when they don't know any women.”

Knows Said Character Girl Students Brother Males My Brother Eton

Author:Mary Jo Putney

“I taught principally German language and literature at Eton. But any master with private pupils must be prepared to teach anything they ask for. That can be as diverse as the early paintings of Salvador Dali or how bumblebees manage to fly.”

Asks Literature Language Teach Taught Painting Masters Prepared Manage Diverse Be Prepared Pupils German Language Eton Bumblebees

Author:John le Carre

“There is an old story about the boy at Eton who committed suicide. The other boys in his house were gathered together and asked if any of them could suggest a reason for the tragedy. After a long silence a small boy in the front put up his hand: 'Could it have been the food, sir?”

Ifs Long Has Beens Reason Stories Hands Together House Silence Boys Fronts Tragedy Suicide Committed Eton Long Silence

Author:Auberon Waugh

“An unemployed electrician,whom I had been taunting with my reminder of how much richer I was, leaned forward and said:'What are your qualifications? I know exactly what your qualifications are.You bent over in the shower to pick up some soap at Eton and Harrow, like all the rest of them.”

Knows Said Picks Showers Bent Reminders Soap Unemployed Qualifications Taunting Electrician Eton

Book:Another Voice: An Alternative Anatomy of Britain

Source: Another Voice: An Alternative Anatomy of Britain

“It is essential to rear a generation at the very top of society that has all the qualities needed to lead and give the people the inspiration and the drive to make it succeed. In short, the elite.. Every society tries to produce this type. The British have special schools for them: the gifted and talented are sent to Eton and Harrow.”

People Giving Trying Inspiration School Quality Generations Special Produce Type Needed Succeed Essentials British Elites Gifted Singapore Eton

Author:Lee Kuan Yew

“Were I to deduce any system from my feelings on leaving Eton, it might be called The Theory of Permanent Adolescence. It is the theory that the experiences undergone by boys at the great public schools, their glories and disappointments, are so intense as to dominate their lives and to arrest their development. From these it results that the greater part of the ruling class remains adolescent, school-minded, self-conscious, cowardly, sentimental, and in the last analysis homosexual.”

Source: Enemies of promise and other essays: an autobiography of ideas

“The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.”

Fields Battle Great War Playing Fields Waterloo Eton

Author:Duke of Wellington

“Most Englishmen are convinced that God is an Englishman, probably educated at Eton.”

Language Convinced Educated English Language Englishmen Eton

Author:E. M. Delafield