Falsehood avails itself of haste and uncertainty.

You might believe a good man easily, a great man with pleasure. -Bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter

In private enterprises men may advance or recede, whereas they who aim at empire have no alternative between the highest success and utter downfall.

The worst hatred is that of relatives.

The lust for power, for dominating others, inflames the heart more than any other passion.

They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger… they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor… They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace.

The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms, armies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be produced without taxes