Against attempts on my life, I trust in my luck, my good genius, and my guards.

The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.

He, who practices right, but in the hope of acquiring great renown, is very near to vice.

The leader's role is to define reality, then give hope

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

I made all my generals out of mud.

Men have their virtues and their vices, their heroisms and their perversities; men are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but possess and practice all that there is of good and bad here below. Such is the general rule. Temperament, education, the accidents of life, are modifying factors. Outside of this, everything is ordered arrangement, everything is chance. Such has been my rule of expectation and it has usually brought me success.