The fate of war is to be exalted in the morning, and low enough at night! There is but one step from triumph to ruin.

Power is what they like - it is the greatest of all aphrodisiacs.

The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time.

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

Democracy may become frenzied, but it has feelings and can be moved. As for aristocracy, it is always cold and never forgives.

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

A commander in chief ought to say to himself several times a day: If the enemy should appear on my front, on my right, on my left, what would I do? And if the question finds him uncertain, he is not well placed, he is not as he should be, and he should remedy it.