It is in times of difficulty that great nations like great men display the whole energy of their character and become an object of admiration to posterity.

When I had the honor to be a second lieutenant, I ate dry bread, but I never let anyone know that I was poor.

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

A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle.

He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.

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

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.