I tell you the solemn truth, that the doctrine of the Trinity is not so difficult to accept for a working proposition as any one of the axioms of physics.

Henry James chews more than he bites off.

The new American, like the new European, was the servant of the powerhouse, as the European of the twelfth century was the servant of the Church.

You can't use tact with a Congressman! A Congressman is a hog! You must take a stick and hit him on the snout!

As for America, it is the ideal fruit of all your youthful hopes and reforms. Everybody is fairly decent, respectable, domestic, bourgeois, middle-class, and tiresome. There is absolutely nothing to revile except that it's a bore.

The historian must not try to know what is truth, if he values his honesty; for if he cares for his truths, he is certain to falsify his facts.

It is always good men who do the most harm in the world.