It is always easy to begin a war, but very difficult to stop one.

For harmony makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest empires.

To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.

It is always easy enough to take up arms, but very difficult to lay them down; the commencement and the termination of war are notnecessarily in the same hands; even a coward may begin, but the end comes only when the victors are willing.

For men who had easily endured hardship, danger and difficult uncertainty, leisure and riches, though in some ways desirable, proved burdensome and a source of grief.

Neither the army nor the treasury, but friends, are the true supports of the throne; for friends cannot be collected by force of arms, nor purchased with money; they are the offspring of kindness and sincerity.

Among intellectual pursuits, one of the most useful is the recording of past events.