“It seems to me one of the few books that are like an experience; you are not quite the same after you have read it as you were before.”

Defining a great book by its power to alter the reader · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1897–1907

• Art
• Memory

“Perhaps nothing thrills us that is not or has not been in some way human.”

Seeing human association as the source of emotional resonance · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1897–1907

• Memory
• Truth

“Qualifications absolutely necessary for a good historian: imagination; prejudice; the power of writing your own biography at the same time.”

A mischievous view of history as inseparable from personality and interpretation · Gathered Leaves, letters and diaries, 1897

• Memory
• Truth