“Great men are meteors designed to burn so that earth may be lighted.”

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.”

“We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.”

“Among so many conflicting ideas and so many different perspectives, the honest man is confused and distressed and the skeptic becomes wicked ... Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which devastates, loots, and burns. Considering the alternative, it is better to eat than to be eaten.”

“The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable.”

“I hope before long to press you in my arms and shall shower on you a million burning kisses as under the Equator.”

“The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.”