Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

It presupposes that magicians have some sort of duty to do magic, which is clearly nonsense.

I assure you, the British are a peculiarly unmilitary race.

Mr. Lascelles was one of that uncomfortable breed of men who despise steady employment of any sort.

Feats of magic will make your name known everywhere, sir, but they will never make your opinions understood. For that you must publish.

So may the love of money make an intelligent man small minded and ridiculous.

Everybody knows no one with red hair can ever truly be said to be handsome.

He drank very little now. Scarcely more than a bottle a day.

The Scottish captain...entertaining the [Native] Americans and teaching them to drink tea (presumably with the idea that once a man had learnt to drink tea, the other habits and qualities that make up a Briton would follow).

"Plans for Future Usefulness and Happiness"

He understood for the first time the world is not dumb at all, but merely waiting for someone to speak to it in a language it understands.

It is the right of a traveler to vent their frustration at every minor inconvenience by writing of it to their friends.

His attention was given to the argument he was conducting with his neighbor as to whether the English magician had gone mad because he was a magician or because he was English.