A nation recruits men more easily than it can retrieve its honour.
Do you know what astonished me the most in this world? The inability of force to create anything.
Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
Ability is nothing without opportunity.
I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.
We are made weak both by idleness and distrust of ourselves. Unfortunate, indeed, is he who suffers from both. If he is a mere individual he becomes nothing; if he is a king he is lost.