“He was the victim, however, of a universal ambition which prompted him to aim at distinction in many subjects rather than pre-eminence in one”
“I have travelled in all lands and I have dwelt with all nations. Every tongue is the same to me. I learned them all to help pass the weary time. I need not tell you how slowly they drifted by, the long dawn of modern civilization, the dreary middle years, the dark times of barbarism. They are all behind me now.”