A civilised man is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat.

I think that black Africa is extremely terrifying. Black Africa can become a maelstrom of warring tribes without the outside world needing to feel the need to do anything about it.

I don't think that what's going on in Bosnia is political activity. It's partly political, but it's partly atavistic as well.

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

I don't look to find an educated person in the ranks of university graduates, necessarily. Some of the most educated people I know have never been near a university.

Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done.

The written history of the world is largely a history of warfare, because the states within which we live came into existence largely through conquest, civil strife, or struggles for independence.

The great Chinese classics have always said that it's better not to fight; that the clever man achieves his ends without violence; that a battle delayed is better than a battle fought.

The historian ought to be an educated person, writing for other educated people about something which they don't know about, but wish to know about in a way that they can understand.

There are certain wicked people in the world that you can't deal with except by force

The revival of Islam dates from the early years of the 20th century. It was brought about by their humiliation, by their sense of how low they'd fallen compared with the West.

For your life to have meaning is to discover what you are meant to fulfill.

Most times, bankrupted finances is a reflection of bankrupted souls.

Most people like it when the pastor says, "family is priority." What they don't like very much is when the pastor actually chooses his own family as the priority over them.

Strong prejudices in an ill-formed mind are hazardous to government, and when combined with a position of power even more so.

Don't do things to not die, do things to enjoy living. The by-product may be not dying.

There's an old Celtic proverb that I follow: See much, study much, suffer much is the path to wisdom.

The one good thing about failure is that it makes you consider doing things a different way.

I have those moments with my kids and family where we try to unplug and just be in the moment. We put everything else to the side and just be there with our family.

I don't like to label films with a genre.

If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season, I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy—nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.