Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.

It is possible that the percentage of honest and competent whores is higher than that of plumbers and much higher than that of lawyers. And enormously higher than that of professors.

Almost everything about a human creature is ridiculous, except its ability to suffer bravely and die gallantly for whatever it loves and believes in. The validity of that belief, the appropriateness of that love, is irrelevant; it is the bravery and the gallantry that count.

The basic of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual.

In a mature society, 'civil servant' is semantically equal to 'civil master.'

Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.

A monarch's neck should always have a noose around it. It keeps him upright.