True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.

Nothing renders a nation so despicable as religious despotism.

It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found.

In war as in love, to bring matters to a close, you must get close together.

I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

When I was happy I thought I knew men, but it was fated that I should know them in misfortune only.

You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them.