We must consult our means rather than our wishes.

When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.

Better to have a known enemy than a forced ally.

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.

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

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.