Do you know what is more hard to bear than the reverses of fortune? It is the baseness, the hideous ingratitude, of man.

Among so many conflicting ideas and so many different perspectives, the honest man is confused and distressed and the skeptic becomes wicked ... Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which devastates, loots, and burns. Considering the alternative, it is better to eat than to be eaten.

Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.

France has more need of me than I have need of France.

Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

Treaties are observed as long as they are in harmony with interests.