Organised outdoor sports for the old ruling classes.

-Hobson,John Atkinson
  On militarism and colonialism. Imperialism.

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.One of the dominant facts in English life during the past three-quarters of a century has been the decay of ability in the ruling class.

-Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair
The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, pt.4.

   The ruling passion be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still.

-Pope, Alexander
  Epistles to Several Persons,'To Lord Bathurst', l.155^6.