"A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights."

"Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night."

"The human race is governed by its imagination."

"Medicines are only fit for old people."

"Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight."

"I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies."

"In politics stupidity is not a handicap."

"One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority."

"The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man."

"With audacity one can undertake anything."

"In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake."

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."

"The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely."

"Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest."

"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."

"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in."

"Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy."

"The art of governing consists in not letting men grow old in their jobs."

"If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god."

"Glory is fleeting but obscurity is forever."

"England is a nation of shopkeepers."

"The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies."

"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it."

"The word impossible is not in my dictionary."

"As to moral courage I have very rarely met with the two o'clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion and which in spite of the most unforeseen events leaves full freedom of judgement and decision."

"Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress."

"All celebrated people lose dignity on a close view."

"Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment."

"When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes."

"There are two levers for moving men - interest and fear."

"An army marches on its stomach."

"The best cure for the body is a quiet mind."

"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them."

"Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy."

"He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander."

"If you want a thing done well, do it yourself."

"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue courage is only the second virtue."

"It requires more courage to suffer than to die."

"The army is the true nobility of our country."

"Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures but in the use made of them."

"A Constitution should be short and obscure."

"How many really capable men are children more than once during the day?"

"War is the business of barbarians."

"The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes."

"If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots."

"Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking."

"Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide."

"My downfall raises me to infinite heights."

"You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks."