In the past the French came ...

In the past the French came to Germany less with the desire to understand it than with a zealous desire to interpret, to analyze it dispassionately something for which their training at the Ecole Normale Superieure or the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and the French language superbly equipped them to do.
 Walter Abish

Quotes from the same author

Once in a while there are things the brain simply refuses to accept as being true because they appear too improbable, too unlikely, too preposterous.
 Walter Abish