I sit down religiously every morning, I sit down for eight hours every day - and the sitting down is all.

Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.

To be a great autocrat you must be a great barbarian.

One can't live with one's finger everlastingly on one's pulse.

The sea never changes and its works, for all the talks of men, are wrapped in mystery.

Yet, when one thinks of it, diplomacy without force is a but a rotten reed to lean upon.

If you don't make mistakes, you don't make anything .