The true University of these days is a collection of books.

The seagreen Incorruptible.

History a distillation of rumour.

A whiff of grapeshot.

‘Genius’ (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all).

The three great elements of modern civilization, Gunpowder, Printing, and the Protestant Religion.

To the very last he [Napoleon] had a kind of idea; that, namely, of La carrière ouverte aux talents, The tools to him that can handle them.

A well-written Life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time.

In epochs when cash payment has become the sole nexus of man to man.