“The insular arrogance of the English character is a commonplace joke.” — Goldwin Smith

We must also be permitted to bear in mind that evolution, though it may explain everything else, cannot explain itself.

It is needless to say how great has been the influence of the doctrine of Evolution, or rather perhaps of the method of investigation to which it has given birth, upon the study of history, especially the history of institutions.

I heard Thackeray thank Heaven for the purity of Dickens. I thanked Heaven for the purity of a greater than Dickens - Thackeray himself.

The novelist must ground his work in faithful study of human nature.