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.

I don't employ Talleyrand when I want a thing done, but only when I want to have the appearance of wanting to do it.

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.

I have only one counsel for you - be master.

The heart of a statesman should be in his head.

We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.

How many seemingly impossible things have been accomplished by resolute men because they had to do, or die?