Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

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

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

“Our army is composed of the scum of the earth—the mere scum of the earth.”

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

“Publish and be damned.”

“Hard pounding this, gentlemen; let's see who will pound longest.”

“A great country can have no such thing as a little war.”

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

“The only thing I am afraid of is fear.”

“I have no small talk and Peel has no manners.”

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

“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.”

“My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers.”

“I hope to God that I have fought my last battle.”

“An army, like a serpent, goes upon its belly.”