I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.

With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.

Medicines are only fit for old people.

There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

The French complain of everything, and always.

The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.

I made all my generals out of mud.

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

The word impossible is not in my dictionary.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.

All religions have been made by men.

Women are nothing but machines for producing children.

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

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains.

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

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

England is a nation of shopkeepers.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

An army marches on its stomach.

Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.

When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.

The human race is governed by its imagination.

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.

The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.

One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.

In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.

Respect the burden.

He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.

I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.