Stendhal, On Love (1822)
The Soviet writer Lev Nikulin used this quote as an excuse for the digressive structure of his 1933 travelogue Seven Seas ("Семь морей"), in which anecdotal and quotidian seem to overpower the main thesis.
“The diaspora is a sampled drop of a nation’s blood.” («Эмиграция – это капля крови нации, взятая на анализ»)…
From the file of Siegfried Fuchs, an "independent furrier," found at Arolsen archives.
Umberto Eco: Le Corbusier: