“Hurried tourists who, after visiting superficially a few Romanian towns, go back home and talk about a certain native indolence of the Romanian people, do more than an injustice – they put a real affront on the peasantry that, from the beginning to the end of the year, knows of nothing but steadfast, fruitful toil. These visitors of towns have not met the real Romanian people, whose energy and labor is concentrated in the effort of the peasant.

‘A logical influence of the East, which is very close by and, besides, has long irradiated these regions,’ some claim, indulgently. Wrong! There is no worker more unflinching than the Romanian peasant. In his continuous effort, he takes no rest, and nothing can stop his endeavor; rain or snow, scorching heat or biting cold, he sweats on, squeezing rich crops from the soil that brought fame to his country, now rightfully known as one of the richest granaries of Europe.”

Journal des voyages, 110/1927