The amateur is very rare in French literature - as rare as he is common in our own.

When Louis XIV assumed the reins of government France suddenly and wonderfully came to her maturity; it was as if the whole nation had burst into splendid flower.

The genius of the French language, descended from its single Latin stock, has triumphed most in the contrary direction - in simplicity, in unity, in clarity, and in restraint.

Englishmen have always loved Moliere.

The amateur is very rare in French literature - as rare as he is common in our own.

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.

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