For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.

The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.

War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.

If you give way, you will instantly have to meet some greater demand, as having been frightened into obedience in the first instance; while a firm refusal will make them clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals.

It is the habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire

You can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.

Hope is an expensive commodity. It makes better sense to be prepared.