Conscription is the vitality of a nation, the purification of its morality, and the real foundations of all its habits.

The money one gets for selling one's soul is always spent in deadening one's conscience, so the net gain at the end of a lifetime is no greater than if the diabolic bargain had not been struck.

Friends, I promise you this conquest; but there is one condition you must swear to fulfill-to respect the people whom you liberate, to repress the horrible pillaging committed by scoundrels incited by our enemies. Otherwise you would not be the liberators of the people; you would be their scourge...Plunderers will be shot without mercy; already, several have been.

We may make mistakes-but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed ... to live by the light that I have.

The only guide to a man's conscience, the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions.