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Lytton Strachey

Lytton Strachey Quotes

Writer

British writer known for his profound analysis of Victorian figures. Strachey is celebrated for his unique literary style and delicate portrayal of character psychology.

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Famous Lytton Strachey Quotes

“Mon dieu! — George Mallory! When that’s been written, what more need be said? My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons away at the words — oh heavens! heavens! I found of course that he’d been absurdly maligned — he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face — ah, incredible — the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy . . . . For the rest, he’s going to be a schoolmaster, and his intelligence is not remarkable. What’s the need?”

Humor Beauty Letters Handsome Men George Mallory

Book:The Letters of Lytton Strachey

Source: The Letters of Lytton Strachey

“It was not by gentle sweetness and self-abnegation that order was brought out of chaos; it was by strict method, by stern discipline, by rigid attention to detail, by ceaseless labor, by the fixed determination of an indomitable will.”

Order Discipline Chaos Will Detail

Author:Lytton Strachey

“For ignorance is the first requisite of the historian──ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection that unattainable by the highest art.”

Ignorance Historian

Book:Eminent Victorians

Source: Eminent Victorians

“Perhaps the best test of a man's intelligence is his capacity for making a summary.”

Men Capacity Tests Summary

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“A writer’s promise is like a tiger’s smile”

Author:Lytton Strachey

“In the literature of France Moliere occupies the same kind of position as Cervantes in that of Spain, Dante in that of Italy, and Shakespeare in that of England. His glory is more than national - it is universal.”

Kind Literature Position Glory Universal England France Spain

Book:Landmarks in French Literature

Source: Landmarks in French Literature

“There are a great deal of a great many kinds of love.”

Life Kind Deals Great Men Love Life Kinds Of Love

Author:Lytton Strachey

“Ignorance is the first requisite of the historian - ignorance, which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid perfection unattainable by the highest art.”

Firsts Art Ignorance Highest Perfection Historian Simplify Unattainable Placid

Author:Lytton Strachey

“If this is dying, I don't think much of it.”

Ifs Thinking Dying Last Words Deathbed

Author:Lytton Strachey

“Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing.”

Men Writing Language Creation Astonishing Creation Of Man

Author:Lytton Strachey

“The old interests of aristocracy - the romance of action, the exalted passions of chivalry and war - faded into the background, and their place was taken by the refined and intimate pursuits of peace and civilization.”

War Action Romance Passion Interest Taken Civilization Pursuit Backgrounds Intimate Refined Exalted Aristocracy Faded Chivalry

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“It is probably always disastrous not to be a poet.”

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“Human beings are too important to be treated as mere symptoms of the past. They have a value which is independent of any temporal process──which is eternal, and must be felt for its own sake.”

Humans Important Past Values Felt Process Human Beings Eternal Independent Mere Sake Treated Symptoms

Author:Lytton Strachey

“The stability and peace which seemed to be so firmly established by the brilliant monarchy of Francis I vanished with the terrible outbreak of the Wars of Religion.”

War Peace Terrible Brilliant Stability Monarchy Brilliant Ideas Outbreaks

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“Unlike the majority of the writers of his age, La Rochefoucauld was an aristocrat; and this fact gives a peculiar tone to his work.”

Giving Facts Age Majority Tone Peculiar Bedtime

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“The amateur is very rare in French literature - as rare as he is common in our own.”

Literature Common French Literature

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“How far the existence of the Academy has influenced French literature, either for good or for evil, is an extremely dubious question.”

Evil Literature Existence Academy Hygiene Dubious French Literature

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“Though, with the ascendancy of Louis, the political power of the nobles finally came to an end, France remained, in the whole complexion of her social life, completely aristocratic.”

Ends Whole Political Social Advertising France Social Life Political Power Advertising Agencies Complexion Aristocratic Ascendancy

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“English dramatic literature is, of course, dominated by Shakespeare; and it is almost inevitable that an English reader should measure the value of other poetic drama by the standards which Shakespeare has already implanted in his mind.”

Should Mind Values Courses Literature Reader Drama Standards Inevitable Dramatic Poetic

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“But Racine's extraordinary powers as a writer become still more obvious when we consider that besides being a great poet he is also a great psychologist.”

Stills Poet Extraordinary Obvious Poetic Psychologist Great Poet

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“During this earlier period of his activity Voltaire seems to have been trying - half unconsciously, perhaps - to discover and to express the fundamental quality of his genius.”

Trying Has Beens Seems Half Quality Genius Periods Activity Fundamentals

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“In sheer genius Pascal ranks among the very greatest writers who have lived upon this earth. And his genius was not simply artistic; it displayed itself no less in his character and in the quality of his thought.”

Character Earth Quality Genius Artistic Sheer Pascal

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“The genius of the French language, descended from its single Latin stock, has triumphed most in the contrary direction - in simplicity, in unity, in clarity, and in restraint.”

Language Genius Unity Simplicity Contrary Clarity Latin Restraint French Language

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“It is perhaps as difficult to write a good life as to live one.”

Writing Difficult Good Life

Author:Lytton Strachey

“Englishmen have always loved Moliere.”

Book:Spectatorial Essays

Source: Spectatorial Essays

“Discretion is not the better part of biography.”

Biographies Discretion

Author:Lytton Strachey

“In pure literature, the writers of the eighteenth century achieved, indeed, many triumphs; but their great, their peculiar, triumphs were in the domain of thought.”

Literature Century Pure Triumph Peculiar Domain

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“Modern as the style of Pascal's writing is, his thought is deeply impregnated with the spirit of the Middle Ages. He belonged, almost equally, to the future and to the past.”

Writing Age Past Spirit Modern Middle Style Middle Ages Pascal

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”

Knows Age History Too Much Written Victorian Unattainable Victorian Age

Author:Lytton Strachey

“There is something dark and wintry about the atmosphere of the later Middle Ages.”

Age Dark Middle Atmosphere Middle Ages

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“When Louis XIV assumed the reins of government France suddenly and wonderfully came to her maturity; it was as if the whole nation had burst into splendid flower.”

Ifs Whole Government Nations Flower France Maturity Splendid Reins

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“When the French nation gradually came into existence among the ruins of the Roman civilization in Gaul, a new language was at the same time slowly evolved.”

Language Nations Existence Civilization Ruins Roman Civilization

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

“With a very few exceptions, every word in the French vocabulary comes straight from the Latin.”

Exception Latin Vocabulary

Book:Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)

About the Author

Born: March 1, 1880
Died: January 21, 1932
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 33

Related Topics

Literature Age France Genius Language Writing Civilization Existence French Literature Historian

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Books & Sources

Delphi Complete Works of Lytton Strachey (Illustrated)Related source material

Eminent VictoriansRelated source material

Landmarks in French LiteratureRelated source material

Spectatorial EssaysRelated source material

The Letters of Lytton StracheyRelated source material

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