Francis Parkman

France built its best colony on a principle of exclusion, and failed; England reversed the system, and succeeded.

The most momentous and far-reaching question ever brought to issue on this continent was: Shall France remain here, or shall she not?

Versailles was a gulf into which the labor of France poured its earnings; and it was never full.

The Revolution began at the top,—in the world of fashion, birth, and intellect,—and propagated itself downwards.