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What has history said of eminence without honor, wealth without wisdom, power and possessions without principle? The answer is reiterated in the overthrow of the mightiest empires of ancient times. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome! The four successive, universal powers of the past. What and where are they?

Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.

The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.

The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose.

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.

Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go.