Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.

I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them.

One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

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

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.

We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.