Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

For a long time I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard to find.

For as good habits of the people require good laws to support them, so laws, to be observed, need good habits on the part of the people.

With difficulty he is beaten who can estimate his own forces and those of his enemy.

Never lead your soldiers to battle if you have not first confirmed their spirit and known them to be without fear and ordered; and never test them except when you see that they hope to win.

One must consider the final result