"They were all famous and fantastic fellows"
About this Quote
The phrasing matters. "Fellows" is breezy and clubby, a word that collapses hierarchy into matey camaraderie while still implying an in-group. It's not "men" or "artists" or "colleagues" - it's the language of the mess hall, the committee, the expedition, the polite British network where belonging is a form of capital. Scott's sentence is a soft-focus lens: it refuses the sharper details (ambition, rivalry, dullness, cruelty) that accompany most famous people, and in doing so signals the speaker's own ease among them.
The subtext is also defensive, maybe even elegiac. When you say everyone was fantastic, you're often writing over something messier: compromises, politics, the awkward fact that fame is unevenly distributed and rarely pure. As an artist who moved between culture and conservation, Scott knew how reputations are built - by repetition, by warmth, by a well-placed adjective. This line doesn't just remember a group; it gently instructs you how to remember them.
Quote Details
| Topic | Joy |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Scott, Peter. (2026, January 17). They were all famous and fantastic fellows. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-were-all-famous-and-fantastic-fellows-80617/
Chicago Style
Scott, Peter. "They were all famous and fantastic fellows." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-were-all-famous-and-fantastic-fellows-80617/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"They were all famous and fantastic fellows." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/they-were-all-famous-and-fantastic-fellows-80617/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.





