Claude Louis Hector de Villars

"I was unable before starting to formulate a plan of campaign because I did not know whether I should find an army there ... In fact I found the troops in a deplorable condition, without clothes, witho…"

"A general has to expose his life as much as he exposes the lives of others."

"Do you want to know where Prince Eugene’s real enemies are? They are in Vienna, while mine are in Versailles."

"My friends ... if you make the people run away, you will die of hunger."

"If God lets us have the grace of losing such a battle again, Your Majesty can count on all of his enemies being destroyed."

"In war everything depends upon being able to deceive the enemy; and having once gained this point, in never allowing him time to recover himself."

"No governor of a place should he permitted to excuse himself for surrendering, on the ground of wishing to preserve the king's troops. Every garrison that displays courage will escape being prisoners …"

"Where there are no peasants there are no supplies."