One might have supposed that the true act of love was to lie together and talk.

It is something, I thought, when a king can put a courtesan to the blush.

We Persians have a saying that one should deliberate serious matters first drunk, then sober.

Alexander, of whom men tell many legends, lived by his own. Achilles must have Patroklos. He might love his Briseis; but Patroklos was the friend till death. At their tombs in Troy, Alexander and Hephaistion had sacrificed together. Wound Patroklos, and Achilles will have your blood.

What keeps the democracy alive at all but the hatred of excellence; the desire of the base to see no head higher than their own?

Power is the test. Some, once they have it, are content to buy the show of liking, and punish those who withhold it; then you have a despot. But some keep a true eye for how they seem to others, and care about it, which holds them back from much mischief.

Never destroy without thought your enemy's pretences; they are usually your best weapon against him.