Authors are far closer to the truths enfolded in mystery than ordinary people, because of that very audacity of imagination which irritates their plodding critics. As only those who dare to make mistakes succeed greatly, only those who shake free the wings of their imagination brush, once in a way, the secrets of the great pale world. If such writers go wrong, it is not for the mere brains to tell them so

It is seldom that the imagination is disappointed in the 'ancestral piles' of England.

the only revenge worth having is success.

... France is the genius among nations.

stoicism is the fundamental characteristic of the French.

Better extirpate the whole breed, root and branch. And this, unless the German people come to their senses, is what we propose to do.

The French are a race of individuals. There is no type.