The statesman's task is to hear God's footsteps marching through history, and to try and catch on to His coattails as He marches past.

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.

Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the decomposition of the main forces of Russia, which is based on millions of Russian ... The latter, even if they break up international treaties, just as quickly re-connect with each other, like pieces of a particle of mercury.

Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.

A government must not waiver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.

Politics is not a science...but an art.