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He took the imperial hand and shook it in the glad-to-see-you-but-keep-off English fashion.

— Frederick Rolfe Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

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More quotes by Frederick Rolfe

An appeal to a goodness which is not in him is, to a vain and sensitive soul, a stinging insult.

Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

That cold white candent voice which was more caustic than silver nitrate and more thrilling than a scream.

Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

Pray for the repose of His soul. He was so tired.

Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

Most people have only half developed their single personalities. That a man should split his into four and more; and should develop each separately and perfectly, was so abnormal that many normals failed to understand it.

Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

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.

Hadrian the Seventh (1904)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Frederick Rolfe (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.