Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn't matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying . . . or busy with other assignments. Book VI

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent, or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations — all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Never Give In!

“The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon / Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, / Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, / Lighting a little hour or two — is gone.” Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Humour is the first of the gifts to perish in a foreign tongue. The Common Reader