It is the mark of a great man that he puts to flight all ordinary calculations. He is at once sublime and touching, childlike and of the race of giants. – Honore de Balzac

Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself. – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies. – Alexis de Tocqueville