More than a code of manners in war and love, Chivalry was a moral system, governing the whole of noble life.

Fateful moments tend to evoke grandeur of speech, especially in French.

An essential element for good writing is a good ear: One must listen to the sound of one's own prose.

The better part of valor is to spend it learning to live with differences, however hostile, unless and until we can find another planet.

Nothing so comforts the military mind as the maxim of a great but dead general.

The appetite for power is old and irrepressible in humankind, and in its action almost always destructive.

Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.