ARTHUR WELLESLEY, 1ST DUKE OF WELLINGTON

Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious.

The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.

The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill.

Being born in a stable does not make one a horse.

When my journal appears, many statues must come down.

I hate the whole race. There is no believing a word they say, your professional poets, I mean there never existed a more worthless set than Byron and his friends for example.

It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.

The only thing I am afraid of is fear.

Publish and be damned.

Educate men without religion and you make of them but clever devils.

I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me.

When one turns over in bed, it is time to turn out.

Next to a lost battle, nothing is so sad as a battle that has been won.

Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.

The Lord's prayer contains the sum total of religion and morals.

Habit is ten times nature.

Next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.

I used to say of Napoleon that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.

An extraordinary affair. I gave them their orders and they wanted to stay and discuss them.

All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called 'guess what was at the other side of the hill'.

Our army is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth.

As Lord Chesterfield said of the generals of his day, 'I only hope that when the enemy reads the list of their names, he trembles as I do.'

…composed of the scum of the earth.

I see no reason to suppose that these machines will ever force themselves into general use.

You must build your House of Parliament upon the river: so…that the populace cannot exact their demands by sitting down round you.