Hector : I'll let you into a little secret, boys. There is no such thing as general studies. General studies is a waste of time. Knowledge is not general, it is specific. And nothing to do with getting on.

Wilkes [parlant du sport] : One day it will save your life.
Posner : Nothing saves anyone's life, sir. It just postpones their death.
Wilkes [posant ses mains sur les épaules de Posner] : Jesus Christ will save your life, lad, if you only let him into your heart!
Posner : I'm Jewish, sir.
[Wilkes part poser ses mains sur les épaules d'Akthar.]
Akthar : I'm Muslim, sir.

Dakin : Don't think we're shocked by your mentioning the word "foreskin," sir.
Crowther : No, sir. Some of us even have them.
Lockwood : Not Posner though, 'cause he's, well, Jewish. It's one of several things he doesn't have.
Posner : Fuck off.
Lockwood : That's not racist, though.
Crowther : No?
Lockwood : It's race-related... but not racist.

Tom Irwin : The truth was, in 1914, Germany doesn't want war. Yeah, there's an arms race, but it's Britain who's leading it. So, why does no one admit this? [approchant d'un mémorial de guerre] That's why. The dead. The body count. We don't like to admit the war was even partly our fault cos so many of our people died. And all the mourning's veiled the truth. It's not "lest we forget", it's "lest we remember". That's what all this is about - the memorials, the Cenotaph, the two minutes' silence. Because there is no better way if forgetting something than by commemorating it.

[Dakin remonte sa main le long de la cuisse de Fiona. Mais elle l'arrête.]
Dakin : What's the matter?
Fiona : No-man's land.
Dakin : Ah, fuck. What do I do with this? [Il montre son érection.]
Fiona : Carry out a controlled explosion?

Scripps : Love can be very irritating.
Posner : How do you know?
Scripps : That's what I always think about God. Must get so pissed off, everybody adoring him all the time.
Posner : Yes, only you don't catch God poncing about in his underpants.

Posner : Do you ever look at your life?
Tom Irwin : I thought everybody did.
Posner : I'm a Jew... I'm small... I'm homosexual... and I live in Sheffield... I'm fucked.

Scripps [à propos de la religion] : It's what you don't do.
Dakin : You don't NOT WANK? Jesus, you're headed for the bin.
Scripps : It's not for ever.
Dakin : Yeah? Well, tell me on the big day and I'll stand well back.

Dakin : The more you read, though, the more you'll see that literature is actually about losers.
Scripps : No.
Dakin : Yeah... It's consolation. All literature is consolation.

Hector : Pass the parcel. That's sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That's the game I want you to learn. Pass it on.

Hector : The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.

[Parlant d'Irwin]
Scripps : Would you do it with him?
Dakin : Yeah, I wondered about that. I might. Bring a little bit of sunshine into his life. [Posner est outré, lui qui est amoureux de Dakin.] It's only a wank, after all.
Scripps : What makes you think he'd do it with you? [Dakin sourit.] You complacent fuck!
Dakin : Does the Archbishop of Canterbury know you talk like this?

[Dakin, qui vient de s'en aller, est ennuyé parce qu'il ne sait pas si Irwin l'aime bien.]
Posner : Irwin does like him. He seldom looks at anyone else.
Scripps : How do you know ?
Posner : Because nor do I ! Our eyes meet looking at Dakin.

Scripps : Oh, Pos, with your spaniel heart. It will pass.
Posner : Yes, it's only a phase. Who says I want it to pass? But the pain, the PAIN !
Scripps : Hector would say it's the only education worth having.
Posner : Yes. I just wish there were marks for it.

Dakin : How do you think history happens?
Tom Irwin : What?
Dakin : How does stuff happen, do you think? People decide to do stuff. Make moves. Alter things.
Tom Irwin : I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Dakin : No? Think about it.
Tom Irwin : Some do... make moves, I suppose. Others people react to events. In 1939 Hitler made a move on Poland. Poland defended itself.
Dakin : ...gave in.
Tom Irwin : Is that what you mean?
Dakin: No. Not Poland anyway. Was Poland taken by surprise?
Tom Irwin : To some extent. Though they knew something was up.

Dakin : Anybody else, I'd say we could have a drink. Is that a euphemism - a drink? Saying "a drink" when you actually mean something else?
Tom Irwin : It is, yeah.

Dakin : I'm just kicking the tyres on this one but, further to the drink, what I was really wondering was whether there were any circumstances in which there was any chance of your sucking me off... Or something similar. [pause] Actually, that would please Hector.
Tom Irwin : What?
Dakin : "Your sucking me off". It's a gerund. He likes gerunds. And "your being scared shitless", that's another gerund.

Dakin : I don't understand this. Reckless, impulsive, immoral. How come there's such a difference between the way you teach and the way you live? Why are you so bold in argument and talking, but when it comes to the point... When it's something that's actually happening - I mean, now you're so fucking careful. Is it because you're a teach and I'm a boy?
Tom Irwin : Obviously that.
Dakin : Well, why? Who cares? I don't.

Dakin : Next week? Get this man - "You can suck me off next week"! I've heard of a crowded schedule but this is ridiculous. God, we've got a long way to go. Do you ever take your glasses off?
Tom Irwin : Why?
Dakin : It's a start.
Tom Irwin : Not with me. Taking off my glasses is the last thing I do.
Dakin : Yeh? I'll look forward to it.

Dakin : I just wanted to say thank you.
Scripps : So? Give him a subscription to The Spectator or a box of Black Magic. Just because you've got a scholarship doesn't mean you've got to give him unfettered access to your dick.
Dakin : So how would you say thank you?
Scripps : Same as you probably. On my knees.