List of Goldwin Smith Quotes

Ancient History, Besides The Still Unequalled Excellence Of The Writers, Is The Best Instrument For Cultivating The Historical Sense.

It Is Evident That In The Period Designated As That Of The Kings, When Rome Commenced Her Career Of Conquest, She Was, For That Time And Country, A Great And Wealthy City.

As To London We Must Console Ourselves With The Thought That If Life Outside Is Less Poetic Than It Was In The Days Of Old, Inwardly Its Poetry Is Much Deeper.

The Materials Of The Novelist Must Be Real; They Must Be Gathered From The Field Of Humanity By His Actual Observation.

The Roman Legions Were Formed In The First Instance Of Citizen Soldiers, Who Yet Had Been Made To Submit To A Rigid Discipline, And To Feel That In That Submission Lay Their Strength.

Yet For My Part, Deeply As I Am Moved By The Religious Architecture Of The Middle Ages, I Cannot Honestly Say That I Ever Felt The Slightest Emotion In Any Modern Gothic Church.

Dante Himself Is Open To The Suspicion Of Partiality: It Is Said, Not Without Apparent Ground, That He Puts Into Hell All The Enemies Of The Political Cause, Which, In His Eyes, Was That Of Italy And God.

The Insular Arrogance Of The English Character Is A Commonplace Joke.

Rome Was Great In Arms, In Government, In Law.

The Novelist Must Look On Humanity Without Partiality Or Prejudice. His Sympathy, Like That Of The Historian, Must Be Unbounded, And Untainted By Sect Or Party.

Every One Who Has A Heart, However Ignorant Of Architecture He May Be, Feels The Transcendent Beauty And Poetry Of The Mediaeval Churches.

But If Anyone Supposes That There Was No Commercial Fraud In The Middle Ages, Let Him Study The Commercial Legislation Of England For That Period, And His Mind Will Be Satisfied, If He Has A Mind To Be Satisfied And Not Only A Fancy To Run Away With Him.