They possessed the creative faculty once; they have lost it in our day, and it does not appear that they are likely to regain it.
On the other hand, the Italians are remarkable engineers, first-rate mathematicians, clever, if unscrupulous, diplomatists.

Though they overrate their power and influence, they have shown a capacity for organisation which is creditable on the whole.

If they fail to obtain the position they seek in Europe, their failure will have been due to their inordinate vanity and over-governing, if I may coin the word, rather than to an innate want of intelligence.
The qualities and defects of the Italian nation all existed in the Pandolfi family.

Marzio possessed more imagination than most of his countrymen, and he had, besides, that extraordinary skill in his manual execution of his work, which Italians have often exhibited on a large scale.

On the other hand, he was full of bombastic talk about principles which he called great.