French Contingent

Famous quotes containing the words french and/or contingent:

    The French are certainly misunderstood:Mbut whether the fault is theirs, in not sufficiently explaining themselves; or speaking with that exact limitation and precision which one would expect ... or whether the fault may not be altogether on our side ... I shall not decide.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

    I can see ... only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.
    —H.A.L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)