Experience: Superiority

Having just been kept out of the library, the narrator observes university insiders and notes that they are protected by the institution "It was amusing enough to watch the congregation assembling, coming in and going out again, busying themselves at the door of the Chapel like bees at the mouth of a hive. Many were in cap and gown; some had tufts of fur on their shoulders; others were wheeled in bath-chairs; others, though not past middle age, seemed creased and crushed into shapes so singular that one was reminded of those giant crabs and crayfish who heave with difficulty across the sand of an aquarium. As I leant against the wall the University indeed seemed a sanctuary in which are preserved rare types which would soon be obsolete if left to fight for existence on the pavement of the Strand.

"Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

"I'm not one for tall, swaggering generals who comb their hair and shave. I'm for short, bow-legged generals, who don't turn and run."