First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can.

A fleet of British ships at war are the best negotiators.

Buonaparte has often made his boast that our fleet would be worn out by keeping the sea and that his was kept in order and increasing by staying in port; but know he finds, I fancy, if Emperors hear the truth, that his fleet suffers more in a night than ours in one year.

Let me alone: I have yet my legs and one arm. Tell the surgeon to make haste and his instruments. I know I must lose my right arm, so the sooner it's off the better.

Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.

The politics of courts are so mean that private people would be ashamed to act in the same way; all is trick and finesse, to which the common cause is sacrificed.

I am ill every time it blows hard, and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.