it is better to act and repent than not to act and regret.

A wise man will see to it that his acts always seem voluntary and not done by compulsion, however much he may be compelled by necessity.

War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.

There is nothing as likely to succeed as what the enemy believes you cannot attempt.

All who contribute to the overthrow of religion, or to the ruin of kingdoms and commonwealths, all who are foes to letters and to the arts which confer honour and benefit on the human race (among whom I reckon the impious, the cruel, the ignorant, the indolent, the base and the worthless), are held in infamy and detestation.

He who is the cause of another's advancement is thereby the cause of his own ruin.

For, besides what has been said, it should be borne in mind that the temper of the multitude is fickle, and that while it is easy to persuade them of a thing, it is hard to fix them in that persuasion