My decision to destroy the authority of the blacks in Saint Domingue (Haiti) is not so much based on considerations of commerce and money, as on the need to block for ever the march of the blacks in the world.

War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts.

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

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

The only conquests that are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves.

There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.

One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.