20 August 2015
The Dutch Republic (1648) was an example of a truly federal form of government, where autonomy of the constituent parts was combined with an overriding role for the nation-state and its central organs. (Prof. R.C. van Caenegem, Historical considerations on judicial review and federalism, Brussel, 2003.
20 August 2015
The Iliad and the Odyssey are by common consent the beginning of European literature. It is an extraordinary paradox that the beginnings should be unexcelled masterpieces; not ‘primitive’ works, but great poems of enormous length and sophistication. M. Wood, In Search of the Trojan War (London 2008), p. 135.
20 August 2015
Medieval thought, preoccupied as it was with parallels, analogies, and symbols, found the broadest meanings in small things, as Adam of Saint Victor found Christ and the meaning of His passion in a walnut. J. Plummer, The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (New York 2002), p. 1.
20 August 2015
Europe of the nineth century did not stand up to comparison with Iraq. It is salutary for us to recall Europe’s humble origins. Not to gloat over the distance we have come, but to know what we owe having made such progress. R. Brague, The legend of the Middle Ages (Chicago 2006), p. 37.
20 August 2015
The growth of Christian culture differed from the growth of Roman imperial culture. It had grown up within the empire, but spread beyond it. Roman culture never extended beyond the limits of political and military control. G. Woolf, Becoming Roman (Cambridge 2003), p. 17.