Chateaubriand's Memoires d'Outre-tombe are extraordinary both because of the spread of events (from before 1789 to 1840s) and places (Europe, Middle East, USA) they cover and the quality of observations.
I loved this sentence that does not apply to France only.
"En France, l’oubli ne se fait pas attendre."
Or, a very early formulation of the question that Orban is asking today:
"En France, l’oubli ne se fait pas attendre."
Or, a very early formulation of the question that Orban is asking today:
Recevrons nous le chatiment merité d’avoir appris l’art moderne des armes à des peuples dont l’état social est fondé sur l’esclavage et la polygamie? Avons-nous porté la civilisation au dehors, ou avons-nous amené la barbarie dans l’interieur de la chretienté?
"Shall we be deservedly punished for having taught the modern art of weaponry to the peoples whose society is based on slavery and polygamy? Had we carried civilization outside or brought barbarism within Christendom?"
But he is not always "politically incorrect" (in today's terms) or insensitive.
Car ces puissances civilisées, republiques et monarchies, se partagent sans façon en Amerique des terres que leur n’appartiennent pas
Car ces puissances civilisées, republiques et monarchies, se partagent sans façon en Amerique des terres que leur n’appartiennent pas
"Yet these civilized powers, whether republics or monarchies, divide among themselves, without much scruple, the lands in America which do not belong to them."
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