“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.”

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

It’s the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

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

Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people.

A woman laughing is a woman conquered.

One is more certain to influence men, to produce more effect on them, by absurdities than by sensible ideas.

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

If we could read the past histories of all our enemies we would disregard all hostility for them.

Aging will create the music of the coming century.

You absorb so much from whatever your environment is, as an artist, and you learn to take from it what can help you create.

Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere. It’s not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It’s about baking a new pie.

I think the best way to invite people into the conversation is to just create something beautiful out of love, and people naturally gravitate towards a new way of looking at fashion.

Imagining anything is the first step toward creating it. Believing in a true self is what allows a true self to be born.

God made Blues right after he made woman.

It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I’ve come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation.

To philosophize means to make vivid.