The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.

The stability and peace which seemed to be so firmly established by the brilliant monarchy of Francis I vanished with the terrible outbreak of the Wars of Religion.

How far the existence of the Academy has influenced French literature, either for good or for evil, is an extremely dubious question.

The old interests of aristocracy - the romance of action, the exalted passions of chivalry and war - faded into the background, and their place was taken by the refined and intimate pursuits of peace and civilization.

Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing.

A writer’s promise is like a tiger’s smile

Ignorance is the first requisite of the historian - ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection unattainable by the highest art.