“Is that really how he put it?
Because, like, wow.”
Well I don’t think R’ Chaim Brisker spoke such an eloquent English or even English at all. I was quoting his grandson, R’ Yosef Dov Haleivi Soloveitchik, who was saying over what R’ Chaim had said, using his own eloquent English.
As to your second question:
The starting point is to learn Torah – “drag him to the study house”. R’ Yitzchak Blazzer, one of the prime disciples of R’ Yisrael Salanter, visited Volzhin (where R’ Chaim Brisker was Rosh Yeshiva) and tried to convince them to learn mussar via the following argument: The Gemara in Berachos (5a) says ????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???’ ???? ??? ????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ????? ??? We see clearly that harping on the day of death (which is a major part of Salanterian Mussar [as opposed to Slabodka Mussar]) is more effective then learning Torah. R’ Chaim’s response was that granted it is more effective, but is a last resort. One can easily imagine how focusing too much on death can end badly. So R’ Chaim said that if you’re sick you have to utilize every possible cure, but if you’re healthy, then it’s not worth it. (This is all besides for the argument that it’s bittul Torah.)