In war it is not men, but the man who counts.

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

Do you know what astonished me the most in this world? The inability of force to create anything.

Good intelligence is nine-tenths of any battle.

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.

To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must be free from all preoccupation of interest or vanity.

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.