This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog. Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, licking his face and howling, on a moonlit field after a battle. Napoleon was haunted by this scene until his own death.

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.

Conquest has made me what I am, only conquest can maintain me.

One is more certain to influence men, to produce more effect on them, by absurdities than by sensible ideas.

I treat policies like war. I hoodwink one flank so as to trounce the other. In my family we kneel only to God.

Put your iron hand in a velvet glove.