A soil, exhausted by the long culture of Pagan empires, was to lie fallow for a still longer period.

The history of the Franks becomes, therefore, the history of the Netherlands.

A third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold.

Monuments! what are they? the very pyramids have forgotten their builders, or to whom they were dedicated. Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great.

In Gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says Caesar, were all slaves.

The crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs.

Thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty.

A good lawyer is a bad Christian.

To the Calvinists, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of Holland, England, and America are due.

Enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience.

Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessities.

History does not remember the forgettable. It honors the unique minority the majority cannot forget.

When you do music, your friends are writers, actors, painters. It's all under the sameroof. So anything creative is interesting to me.

Reading has given me more satisfaction than really anything else.

Eat at your own as you would the table of a king.

If God is real, and I believe he is, then he is outside of nature. He is, therefore, not limited by the laws of nature in the way that we are.

Every child growing up will look to their parents, my mother and my father. My grandmother lived with us. I picked up quite a bit of family lore and history from her, which was interesting.

I have evolved my own exercises, for the muscles I wish to keep firm, and I know they are right for me because I can feel them putting the proper muscles into play as I exercise.

Let us not compare the genius with the clever; ocean with the lake!

Man has wanted to look beyond, wanted to expand himself; and all that we call progress, evolution, has been always measured by that one search, the search for human destiny, the search for God.

From beginning to end I worried that Ang Lee wouldn't be satisfied with my work. So I worked as hard as I could to earn his trust, because you only get a chance like this once.