The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

Some civil servants are neither servants nor civil.

We proceeded systematically, village by village and we destroyed the houses, filled up the wells, blew down the towers, cut down the shady trees, burned the crops and broke the reservoirs in punitive devastation.

Most of the world's work is done by people who don't feel very well.

I built with my own hands ... a large swimming-pool which was filtered to limpidity and could be heated to supplement our fickle sunshine.

A single glass of champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced; the imagination is stirred, the wits become more nimble.

Nothing is more costly, nothing is more sterile, than vengeance.