“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”

“A woman laughing is a woman conquered.”

“A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.”

“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.”

“We are made weak both by idleness and distrust of ourselves. Unfortunate, indeed, is he who suffers from both. If he is a mere individual he becomes nothing; if he is a king he is lost.”

“A commander-in-chief cannot take as an excuse for his mistakes in warfare an order given by his sovereign or his minister, when the person giving the order is absent from the field of operations and is imperfectly aware or wholly unaware of the latest state of affairs. It follows that any commander-in-chief who undertakes to carry out a plan which he considers defective is at fault; he must put forward his reasons, insist on the plan being changed, and finally tender his resignation rather than be the instrument of his army's downfall.”

“Men are Moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.”