19th Century National Prejudices

"Pfuhl was one of those hopelessly, immutably conceited men, obstinately sure of themselves as only Germans are, because only Germans could base their self-confidence on an abstract idea — on science, that is, the supposed posession of absolute truth. A Frenchman's conceit springs from his belief that mentally and physically he is irresistably fascinating to both men and women. The Englishman's self-assurance comes from being a citizen of the best-organized kingdom in the world, and because as an Englishman he always knows what is the correct thing to do, and that everything he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly right. An Italian is conceited because he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian is conceited because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe that it is possible to know anything completely. A conceited German is the worst of them all, the most stubborn and unattractive, because he imagines that he possesses the truth in science — a thing of his own invention but which for him is absolute truth." Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, tr. Rosemary Edmunds (Penguin, 1982), pp. 757-58.