John Knowles Quotes

The Summer Of 1943 At Exeter Was As Happy A Time As I Ever Had In My Life.

The Scornful Force Of His Tone Turned The Word Into A Curse

Never Say You Are Five Feet Nine When You Are Five Feet Eight And A Half" Was The First One I Encountered. Another Was, "always Say Some Prayers At Night Because It Might Turn Out That There Is A God.

It Was Demeaning To Scrape Affection From Virtually Everyone You Encountered. That Was Immature.

All Of Them, All Except Phineas, Constructed At Infinite Cost To Themselves These Maginot Lines Against This Enemy They Thought They Saw Across The Frontier, This Enemy Who Never Attacked That Way-if He Ever Attacked At All; If He Was Indeed The Enemy.

Exeter Was, I Suspect, More Crucial In My Life Than In The Lives Of Most Members Of My Class, And Conceivably, Than In The Lives Of Almost Anyone Else Who Ever Attended The School.

The Best Teaching I Ever Experienced Was At Exeter. Yale Was A Distinct Letdown Afterward.

As I Walked Briskly Out The Road The Wind Knifed At My Face, But This Sun Caressed The Back Of My Neck.

Young People In My Generation Were Sort Of In Lockstep, And It Wasn't Just The '40s, Either. In The '30s And In The '50s It Was The Same. No One Ever Dropped Out Unless He Got Sick Or Got Kicked Out.

My Father Was In The Coal Business In West Virginia. Both Dad And Mother Were, However, Originally From Massachusetts; New England, To Them, Meant The Place To Go If You Really Wanted An Education.

It Is A Sad Day When One Looks Back And Sees That His Largest Regrets Have Become Some Of The Most Integral Elements Of His Dreams.

I Did No Know Everything There Was To Know About Myself, And Knew That I Did Not Know It.