Canada is said to have got its name from the two Spanish words aca and nada, signifying 'there is nothing here.'

Yet for my part, deeply as I am moved by the religious architecture of the Middle Ages, I cannot honestly say that I ever felt the slightest emotion in any modern Gothic church.

America is supposed to be given over to ugliness. There are a good many ugly things there and the ugliest are the most pretentious.

As to London we must console ourselves with the thought that if life outside is less poetic than it was in the days of old, inwardly its poetry is much deeper.

The insular arrogance of the English character is a commonplace joke.

The father of confederation is deadlock.

The novelist must look on humanity without partiality or prejudice. His sympathy, like that of the historian, must be unbounded, and untainted by sect or party.