But at the time when he wrote, Englishmen, with the rarest exceptions, wrote only in French or Latin; and when they began to write in English, a man of genius, to interpret and improve on him, was not found for… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
We shall not busy ourselves with what men ought to have admired, what they ought to have written, what they ought to have thought, but with what they did think, write, admire — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
To pass to the deluge, and beyond it, and to come to close quarters with our proper division, the origin of Romance itself is… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
One of the best known, and one of the least intelligible, facts of literary history is the lateness, in Western European Literature at any… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
The transition state of manners and language cannot be too often insisted upon: for this affected the process at both ends, giving the artist… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
The Italian prose tale had begun to exercise that influence as early as Chaucer's time: but circumstances and atmosphere were as yet unfavourable for… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
But dinner is dinner, a meal at which not so much to eat - it becomes difficult to eat much at it as you… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
But even gold is not everything: and only a fanatic, and a rather foolish fanatic, would say that this style of fiction summed up… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
The hardest thing to attain... is the appreciation of difference without insisting on superiority. — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
I do not think anything serious should be done after dinner, as nothing should be before breakfast. — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
But at the time when he wrote, Englishmen, with the rarest exceptions, wrote only in French or Latin; and when they began to write… — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
“Nothing is more curious than the almost savage hostility that humor excites in those who lack it.” — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
Miss Austen had shown the infinite possibilities of ordinary and present things for the novelist. — George Saintsbury Copy Share Image
