Great Throughts Treasury

"War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men."

"What clever man has ever needed to commit a crime? Crime is the last resort of political half-wits."

"Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government."

"To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man."

"Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means."

"You do not play then at whist, sir? Alas, what a sad old age you are preparing for yourself!"

"A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered."

"Above all, not too much zeal! (Talleyrand?s warning to young diplomats)"

"An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public."

"If you wish to be popular in society you must consent to be taught many things you already know."

"I find nonsense singularly refreshing."

"Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggie!" till you can find a bigger stick."

"Mistrust first impulses; they are nearly always noble."

"It is the beginning of the end."

"Napoleon would always be listening with his ear to the door."

"Never speak ill of yourself! You can count on your friends for that."

"Nothing succeeds like success."

"Pure as an angel, Sweet as love."

"Not a word! I will tell you tomorrow."

"Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not."

"The only thing you cannot do with a bayonet is sit on it."

"The best diplomats are people lazy and intelligent."

"Treason is a matter of dates."

"There are many people who have the gift, or failing, of never understanding themselves. I have been unlucky enough, or perhaps fortunate enough to have received the opposite gift."

"We have learned, a little late no doubt, that for states as for individuals real wealth consists not in acquiring or invading the domains of others, but in developing one's own. We have learned that all extensions of territory, all usurpations, by force or by fraud, which have long been connected by prejudice with the idea of 'rank,' of 'hegemony,' of 'political stability,' of 'superiority' in the order of the Powers, are only the cruel jests of political lunacy, false estimates of power, and that their real effect is to increase the difficulty of administration and to diminish the happiness and security of the governed for the passing interest or for the vanity of those who govern."

"We're winning!"

"Who is 'we', mon Prince?"

"You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them."

"A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered."

"Above all, not too much zeal! (Talleyrand?s warning to young diplomats)"

"An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public."

"I find nonsense singularly refreshing."

"Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggie!" till you can find a bigger stick."

"Not a word! I will tell you tomorrow."

"It is the beginning of the end."

"Never speak ill of yourself! You can count on your friends for that."

"Mistrust first impulses; they are nearly always noble."

"If you wish to be popular in society you must consent to be taught many things you already know."

"Napoleon would always be listening with his ear to the door."

"The only thing you cannot do with a bayonet is sit on it."

"There are many people who have the gift, or failing, of never understanding themselves. I have been unlucky enough, or perhaps fortunate enough to have received the opposite gift."

"Treason is a matter of dates."

"We have learned, a little late no doubt, that for states as for individuals real wealth consists not in acquiring or invading the domains of others, but in developing one's own. We have learned that all extensions of territory, all usurpations, by force or by fraud, which have long been connected by prejudice with the idea of 'rank,' of 'hegemony,' of 'political stability,' of 'superiority' in the order of the Powers, are only the cruel jests of political lunacy, false estimates of power, and that their real effect is to increase the difficulty of administration and to diminish the happiness and security of the governed for the passing interest or for the vanity of those who govern."

"We're winning!"

"Who is 'we', mon Prince?"

"Pure as an angel, Sweet as love."

"Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not."

"Nothing succeeds like success."

"The best diplomats are people lazy and intelligent."

"You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them."