If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
Medicines are only fit for old people.
Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
All religions have been made by men.
War is the business of barbarians.
A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
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.
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.
To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.
There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
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.
There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.