A nation is a body of people who have done great things together.

The greatest men of a nation are those it puts to death.

As soon as sacrifice becomes a duty and necessity to mankind. I see no limit to the horizon which opens before him.

I can die when I wish to: that is my elixir of life.

As a rule, all heroism is due to a lack of reflection, and thus it is necessary to maintain a mass of imbeciles. If they once understand themselves the ruling men will be lost.

The epic disappeared along with the age of personal heroism; there can be no epic with artillery.

None of the miracles with which ancient histories are filled, occurred under scientific conditions. Observation never once contradicted, teaches us that miracles occur only in periods and countries in which they are believed in and before persons disposed to believe in them.