Diplomatic problems used to be discussed by ambassadors† Foreign Ministers were called†somebody thought of the summit meetings† Wearenearing themoment whenpolitical meetingswill be held at a divine level.

-Acheson, Dean Gooderham
  Comment to reporters in Florence, Sep. Recalled in This Vast External Realm (1973).

Those who attempt to level never equalize.

-Burke, Edmund
  Reflections on the Revolution in France.

The dead level of provincial existence.

-Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans
  The Mill on the Floss, bk.5, ch.3.

   I have always had the greatest contempt for novels written with a purpose. Fiction should render, not draw morals. But†I sinned against my gods to the extent of saying that I was goingöto the level of the light vouchsafed meöto write a work that should have for its purpose the obviating of all future wars.

-Ford, Ford Madox originally Ford Hermann Hueffer
  On Parade's End.

   The 'men of the hour', the self-assured who strut among us in the jingling harness of their success and importance, how can you let yourself be irritated by them. Let them enjoy their triumphöon the level to which it belongs.

-Hammarskjo«  ld, Dag HjalmarAgne Carl
  Va«  gmarken (translated by L Sjsy«  berg and W H  Auden as Markings,1964).

Your levellerswishto leveldownas farasthemselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, 21  Jul. Quoted in  James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.1.

In ease of body, peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level and the beggar who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.

-Smith, Adam
  TheTheory of Moral Sentiments.