The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

What do you take me for, an idiot?

Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.

Difficulty attracts the man of character because it is in embracing it that he realizes himself

You'll live. Only the best get killed.

Whereas ordinary officers must be content with behaving correctly in front of their men, the great leaders have always carefully stage-managed their effects.