The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

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

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.

Posterity alone rightly judges kings. Posterity alone has the right to accord or withhold honors.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

In war one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.