You should know our mania for building is stronger than ever. It is a diabolical thing. It consumes money and the more you build, the more you want to build. It's a sickness like being addicted to alcohol.

God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly.

Tell a thousand people to draft a letter, let them debate every phrase, and see how long it takes and what you get.

Any man who doesn't partake in cigar smoking is nothing more than a weak-willed, meandering oaf, and I would never put my lips to those of any creature, man or beast, whose lips were not fresh awash in the currents of cigar smoke.'

bad news travels faster than good.

I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.

The use of torture is contrary to sound judgment and common sense. Humanity itself cries out against it, and demands it to be utterly abolished.