“I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.”

In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.

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

The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.

Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, licking his face and howling, on a moonlit field after a battle. Napoleon was haunted by this scene until his own death.

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets

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

Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.

All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.

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

The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.

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

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must be free from all preoccupation of interest or vanity.

Success is the most convincing talker in the world.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

Nothing is lost as long as courage remains

I’d rather be shot by a bullet than to be cut by your words. I’ll die cold on the pavement before I lie in the casket of your assurances.

I just have an inability to lie.

Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.

It’s a lie to think you’re not good enough. It’s a lie to think you’re not worth anything.

I’d rather not have anything than be a liar.

When I’m lying in bed I think about the next collection. That makes me sound insane, doesn’t it? That I’m getting into bed with David Beckham and thinking about clothes.

It is spiritual poverty, not material lack, that lies at the core of all human suffering.

Our lives are the only meaningful expression of what we believe and in Whom we believe. And the only real wealth, for any of us, lies in our faith.