The Twilight Zone (TV Series)
The Changing of the Guard (1962)
Donald Pleasence: Professor Ellis Fowler
Photos
Quotes
-
Professor Ellis Fowler : [looking through school yearbook] They all come and go like ghosts. Faces, names, smiles. The funny things they said or the sad things, or the poignant ones. I gave them nothing. I gave them nothing at all. Poetry that left their minds the minute they themselves left. Aged slogans that were out of date when I taught them. Quotations dear to me that were meaningless to them. I was a failure, Mrs. Landers. An abject, miserable failure. I walked from class to class, an old relic, teaching by rote to unhearing ears, unwilling heads. I was an abject, dismal failure. I moved nobody. I motivated nobody. I left no imprint on anybody. Now, where do you suppose I ever got the idea that I was accomplishing anything?
-
Professor Ellis Fowler : I do believe I may have left my mark - a few gauntlets of knowledge that I've thrown down that may have been picked up.
[Quoting Horace Mann]
Professor Ellis Fowler : "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." Well, I didn't win the victories, Mrs. Landers, but I helped others to win them, so perhaps in some small measure they are victories that I can share. I've had a very good life, Mrs. Landers - a very full life, a very rich life! This particular changing of the guard... I wouldn't have it any other way.
