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Brisk and prompt to war, soft and not in the least able to resist…

Quote byFrederick Rolfe · 1860–1913

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Hadrian the Seventh (1904), Prooimion, p. 58.

English (original)

Brisk and prompt to war, soft and not in the least able to resist calamity, fickle in catching at schemes, and always striving after novelties – French characteristics remained unaltered twenty centuries after Julius Caesar made a note of them for all time.

— Frederick Rolfe

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