Curiosity – if not desire, if not plain kindness – might have led him to greater zeal.

I have lived most of my life in soldiers’ camps. I know what they saw. I know how they think. Their confidence sours as sudden as curdled milk.

I thought it best to add nothing further, to let the line of his thought lead him to his own conclusions.

Avner had lived too long and become too canny to claim the crown of Israel for himself.

Even though he said no store in uncanny things, he was soldier enough to value with whatever weapon came to hand.

When a kingdom rests on it, I always expect difficulty. Then, if there is none, no blame. But if there is, one is prepared.

No one sits, as you do, so close to a king, who does not begin to grasp how the levers of power work, and the cost of the oil that must grease them.

This night he was a king before he was a man. At this time, this troubled me. Later, I would have cause to wish it were always so.

He is able to put aside personal feelings and see the broad strokes. Experience counts in these things.

David ran through concrete advantages. And then set aside the practical. The pragmatist was gone, replaced by the poet and mystic.

If soldiering did not interest him, the soldiers themselves were another matter. He loved to sit with the men and draw out their first-hand stories of past campaigns.

When I act tough they listen politely till the spasm passes. They know.

To comprehend the Hitler of 1919 is to comprehend the Hitler of the entire period from 1919 through

In the relations of a weak Government and a rebellious people there comes a time when every act of the authorities exasperates the masses, and every refusal to act excites their contempt.

Sometimes people just feel as if we want to try something to see if we can shake things up.

Girls are like slugs - they probably serve some purpose, but it's hard to imagine what.

No one stands taller in the climb to success than when he bends over to help up someone else.

The future is finally something that we can now put into focus.

Comedy can't be about continuous success.

[Before introducing the nominees for best animated film] If you're at the awards party with the guys who made the Lego Movie, now would be a good time to distract them.

I think you can get away with being a bit more political in science fiction.