During the Peninsula War, I heard a Portuguese general address his troops before a battle with the words, "Remember men, you are Portuguese!"

As a member of the Protestant British squirearchy ruling Ireland, he was touchy about his Irish origins. When in later life an enthusiastic Gael commended him as a famous Irishman, he replied "A man can be born in a stable, and yet not be an animal.

All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guess what was at the other side of the hill'.

An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.

A great country cannot wage a little war.

Troops would never be deficient in courage, if they could only know how deficient in it their enemies were.

To define it rudely but not ineptly, engineering is the art of doing for 10 shillings what any fool can do for a pound