Most wars start with a lie, good wars, bad wars, they start with a lie, and the peace that comes afterwards, those promises of forgiveness and cooperation and fair play for all… those are lies too, lies wrapped in hope.

The faith is not the problem, Bernadette. The problem is the faithful.

People want to believe.

Freedom is a terrible burden, much too heavy for the weak man to bear.

The secret is to create the condition for change, a process that sometimes takes decades, and then use certain men as pivot points, a fulcrum to move history.

Studying history is for tourists - polite, tidy people with clean desks and clean consciences. Making history is for people willing to get their hands dirty, to make mistake and lie when necessary, so that someday historians can sit quietly at their desks and act shocked.

The surprise was worse that the pain. It showed a lack of awareness.

Time is the only thing even money can't buy.

You have all the time in the world when you know what you are doing.

Love your children while they are young. Because they grow up soon enough, and then… then the have no need of you.

I'm married to the future.

People believed what made them comfortable. What fit with their preconceptions of how the world worked.

Yeah, well, you believe what you want to. I live in the real world.

No one believes what they're told. They believe what they uncover. What they dig up on their own. And the harder it is to find, the more they believe it when they do find it.

Rakkim would have loved to believed that… another reason he wasn't convinced.

Man had to hang on to his pride.

If you wanted to know what a man was thinking, check the view from his favorite spot.

Thinking of it, and doing it… they're not the same.

Ignorance is fertile ground.

Faith was the most powerful force in the universe.

Government isn't about religion or signs or symbols… It's about power and control.

It's the small sins that save you. That's how you survive when all around you are getting their heads sawed off.

- Murder is a sin. It's a sin in Judaism, it's a sin in Christianity, it's a sin in Islam and every other…- I'll decide what's a sin.

Religion was all about getting dumbasses to line up and sign up, making people pay today for heaven tomorrow.

They're fucking crosses. Just stick them in the ground. If there's a heaven they're already there. If not… it doesn't matter if the crosses are nice or not.

You rely on your speed too much. A young man's vanity. An old man learns to absorb pain and wait for an opportunity.

I've seen what rational thought leads to. Dumbest people I ever met were intellectuals.

A beast barely able to restrain itself carried a risk to its master.

We're all going to hell anyway, why not enjoy the ride?

It hurts to be lost. You go native because it's better to be wrong than to be lost.

Nothing is more dangerous than a place of safety.

Well-liked… a dangerous quality in a leader.

Jason smiled. The sound of wings was louder now, the fluttering of angels come to carry him home.

A man can never have too many friends.

The devil has a thousand names," said Crews, voice rising, "but the name he takes the most pride in is Prince of Lies, because he is such a convincing fraud. Even God himself was fooled by Satan once, so what hope do we have to tell what's truth and what's false?

Without loyalty all the training in the world is useless. Worse than useless.

Well, fathers and sons… one way or the other, they always disappoint each other.

Maintenance and resupply are the backbone of any military.

The most effective lie is ninety-nine percent true.

he most effective lie is ninety-nine percent true.

Kill the heroes and you kill the soul of a nation.

Great risks could be undertaken only after great preparation.

The secret of victory is to find the point of maximum vulnerability and then strike. No matter your feelings. No matter how much you respect the enemy.

When you're in a weak position, getting the best deal possible is a victory.

Pray for victory, plan for disaster.

A strong man tied to a weak man… When there is trouble, the strong man's strength counts for nothing.

Once you open up a secret, it starts leaking out all over.

Young warriors are always eager for battle. Old warriors know better.

Battle is a frightening thing, a terrible thing, but once you develop a taste for it…nothing else comes close.

Give the agent something easy to reject, something to justify his authority - that way they won't look too closely at the rest of your things.

The hardest bit of information to extract is the first piece.