Frederick Rolfe

“No. We never have read a line of Tolstoy. We studiously avoid doing so.”

— Frederick Rolfe

“All His life long He had yearned to be giving. Now, under any circumstances, He always had something to give, ten words…

— Frederick Rolfe

The student of history knows no more refreshing recreation than that of nailing liars, like vermin, to the wall.

— Frederick Rolfe

Truth is tarter than taradiddles; and nothing is tarter, terser, than truth on the track of tired trash in a trance.

— Frederick Rolfe

Most people have only half developed their single personalities. That a man should split his into four and more; and should develop…

— Frederick Rolfe

It's all nonsense to say that the Fifteenth Century can't possibly speak to the Twentieth, because it is the Fifteenth and not…

— Frederick Rolfe

An appeal to a goodness which is not in him is, to a vain and sensitive soul, a stinging insult.

— Frederick Rolfe

Brisk and prompt to war, soft and not in the least able to resist calamity, fickle in catching at schemes, and always…

— Frederick Rolfe

“Shall I tell you the difference between our Holy Father and ourselves? We see things from a single view-point. He sees things…

— Frederick Rolfe