Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.
In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
What is history but a fable agreed upon?
There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.
Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
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.
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
Respect the burden.
He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
History is a set of lies agreed upon.
Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Imagination rules the world.
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.
In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
All religions have been made by men.
The human race is governed by its imagination.
Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
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.
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue courage is only the second virtue.
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.
The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.