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

The keys of a fortress are always well worth the retirement of the garrison when it is resolved to yield only on those conditions. On this principle it is always wiser to grant an honorable capitulation to a garrison which has made a vigorous resistance than to risk an assault.

Better to have a known enemy than a forced ally.

The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.

Never depend on the multitude, full of instability and whims; always take precautions against it.

It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds.