In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.

Timid and cowardly soldiers cause the loss of a nation's independence; but pusillanimous magistrates destroy the empire of the laws, the rights of the throne, and even social order itself.

Fanaticism must be put to sleep before it can be eradicated.

Agriculture is the soul and chief support of empires; industry produces riches and the happiness of the people; exportation represents the superabundance, and good use of both.

Whatever misanthropists may say, ingrates and the perverse are exceptions in the human species.

The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.