A new-born Government must shine and astonish - the moment it loses its éclat it falls.

A lot of young writers wait for inspiration. The inspiration only hits you at the desk.

A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon - it won't work and you can't fire it.

Love is the idler's occupation, the warrior's relaxation, and the sovereign's ruination.

A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command.

I pay attention only to what people do or say. I never pay attention to what they think.

Large legislative bodies resolve themselves into coteries, and coteries into jealousies.

The inevitable end of multiple chiefs is that they fade and disappear for lack of unity.

Victory and disaster establish indestructible bonds between armies and their commanders.

Between a battle lost and a battle won, the distance is immense and there stand empires.

We of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

The mirrors in your mind can reflect the best of yourself, not the worst of someone else.

Japan has always regarded the aircraft carrier as one of the most offensive of armaments.

Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

The World is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good.

You become strong by defying defeat and by turning loss into gain and failure to success.

Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized, educated nation

The art of being sometimes audacious and sometimes very prudent is the secret of success.

He, who practices right, but in the hope of acquiring great renown, is very near to vice.

The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.

Give me enough ribbons to place on the tunics of my soldiers and I can conquer the world.

Nothing makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin.

To attach no importance to public opinion, is a proof that you do not merit its suffrage.

Everybody is using coffee. If possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you'll be amazed at the results.

There are three ways that men get what they want: by planning, by working, and by praying.

Discipline must be a habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the excitement of battle.

We're like socks. You can put us through a rough wash once, but you'll never use us again.

We evolved the ability to communicate disappointment to teach those around us good manners

Laurels grow in the Bay of Biscay, I hope a bed of them may be found in the Mediterranean.

The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense; he is always satisfied with himself.

To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.

One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.

To live, is to suffer; and the honest man is always fighting to be master of his own mind.

The mind of a general ought to resemble and be as clear as the field-glass of a telescope.

When I want any, good head work done; I always choose a man, if possible with a long nose.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

Remember, gentlemen, what a Roman emperor said: The corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.

The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances.

Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.

The admiral needs only one science, that of navigation. The general needs all the sciences.

Republican despotism is more fertile in acts of tyranny, because everyone has a hand in it.

All you're supposed to do is every once in a while give the boys a little tea and sympathy.

Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there.

I could not tread these perilous paths in safety, if I did not keep a saving sense of humor.

I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal!

The only conquests that are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves.

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