"So far as he is able, a..." - Quote by Niccolo Machiavelli

“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”

“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new order of things..... Whenever his enemies have occasion to attack the innovator they do so with the passion of partisans, while the others defend him sluggishly so that the innovator and his party alike are vulnerable.”

“Violence must be inflicted once for all; people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful. Benefits must be conferred gradually; and in that way they will taste better.”

“To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”

“In Great Britain, governments often change their policies without changing their men. In France, they usually change their men without changing their policy.”

“I could as easily bail out the Potomac River with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army.”

“A man's moral sense must be unusually strong if slavery does not make him a thief.”

“Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right. In order to be considered truly free, countries must also have a deep love of liberty and an abiding respect for the rule of law.”

“Where the principle of difference [between political parties] is as substantial and as strongly pronounced as between the republicans and the monocrats of our country, I hold it as honorable to take a firm and decided part and as immoral to pursue a middle line, as between the parties of honest men and rogues, into which every country is divided.”