A blast in the human breast is nothing to boast of.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy; but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you

....nothing is so unhealthy or unstable as the reputation for power that is not based on one's own power.

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.

He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building.

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