“England and France, the two most civilized nations on earth, who are in contrast to each other because of their different characters, are, perhaps chiefly for that reason, in constant feud with one another. Also, England and France, because of their inborn characters, of which the acquired and artificial character is only the result, are probably the only nations who can be assumed to have a particular and, as long as both national characters are not blended by the force of war, unalterable characteristics. That French has become the universal language of conversation, especially in the feminine world, and that English is the most widely used language of commerce among tradesmen, probably reflects the difference in their continental and insular geographic situation.”

As quoted in [McInerney, Daniel John, The Fortunate Heirs of Freedom: Abolition & Republican Thought, https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrnV5Rj6eckC, 1994, U of Nebraska Press, 0-8032-3172-5, 83-4]

Source: Speech in the Guildhall, London (10 November 1878), quoted in The Times (11 November 1878), p. 10. William Gladstone had written in The North American Review: "It is [America] alone who, at a coming time, can, and probably will, wrest from us that commercial primacy...We have no more title against her than Venice, or Genoa, or Holland, has had against us" ('Kin beyond Sea', The North American Review Vol. 127, No. 264 (Sep. - Oct., 1878), p. 180)

Inhale and Exhale (1936)
Context: There is a small area of land in Asia Minor that is called Armenia, but it is not so. It is not Armenia. It is a place. There are only Armenians, and they inhabit the earth, not Armenia, since there is no Armenia. There is no America and there is no England, and no France, and no Italy. There is only the earth.

Statement to the Press (21 September 1938), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), pp. 978-979
The 1930s

Inhale and Exhale (1936), Antranik and the Spirit of Armenia

Book VIII, 8.96-[5]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VIII

Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos (1994)
Context: Fortunately, there is a sane equilibrium in the character of nations, as there is in that of men. The force of passion is balanced by the force of interest. An insatiable appetite for glory leads to sacrifice and death, but innate instinct leads to self-preservation and life. A nation that neglects either of these forces perishes. They must be steered together, like a pair of carriage horses.

15 August 1833
Table Talk (1821–1834)