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

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.

Modern as the style of Pascal's writing is, his thought is deeply impregnated with the spirit of the Middle Ages. He belonged, almost equally, to the future and to the past.

In sheer genius Pascal ranks among the very greatest writers who have lived upon this earth. And his genius was not simply artistic; it displayed itself no less in his character and in the quality of his thought.

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

With a very few exceptions, every word in the French vocabulary comes straight from the Latin.

Discretion is not the better part of biography.