No man has come to true greatness who has not felt that his life belongs to his race, and that which God gives to him, He gives him for mankind.

The degree of STD had been conferred upon him by Harvard (1877) and Columbia (1887) and the Doctor of Divinity degree by the University of Oxford England (1885). In 1869 he became rector of Trinity Church Boston; today his statue is located on the left exterior of the church. The latest work on Brooks is the chapter on the Ecumenical Quest in Douglass Shand-Tucci's Ralph Adams Cram: an Architects Four Quests publiPhillips Brooksd by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2005.

In the Episcopal liturgical calendar he is remembered on January 23. He is known for being the lyricist of "O Little Town of Bethlehem".