"One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves."

"He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building."

"Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved."

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."

"War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel."

"There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others."

"Expect the worst and you won't be disappointed."

"Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor."

"It is a common enough case, that of a man being suddenly captivated by a woman nearly the opposite of his ideal."

"Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius."

"You will have more fun on your vacation if you maintain a mental age of 18 or less. Act just old enough to make your travel connections and stay out of trouble."

"I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?"