In the literature of France Moliere occupies the same kind of position as Cervantes in that of Spain, Dante in that of Italy, and Shakespeare in that of England. His glory is more than national - it is universal. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
With a very few exceptions, every word in the French vocabulary comes straight from the Latin. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
When the French nation gradually came into existence among the ruins of the Roman civilization in Gaul, a new language was at the same… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
Though, with the ascendancy of Louis, the political power of the nobles finally came to an end, France remained, in the whole complexion of… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
The old interests of aristocracy - the romance of action, the exalted passions of chivalry and war - faded into the background, and their… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
English dramatic literature is, of course, dominated by Shakespeare; and it is almost inevitable that an English reader should measure the value of other… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
How far the existence of the Academy has influenced French literature, either for good or for evil, is an extremely dubious question. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
There is something dark and wintry about the atmosphere of the later Middle Ages. — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
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,… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
During this earlier period of his activity Voltaire seems to have been trying - half unconsciously, perhaps - to discover and to express the… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
In pure literature, the writers of the eighteenth century achieved, indeed, many triumphs; but their great, their peculiar, triumphs were in the domain of… — Lytton Strachey Copy Share Image
