"May God cause the upheaval in France to spread like syphilis to the enemies of the Empire, hurl them into prolonged conflict with one another, and thus accomplish results beneficial to the Empire, amen."

Ahmed Efendi, Privy Secretary to Sultan Selim III, a passage from his journal of January 1792

"Our state is the strongest state. For you are trying to cause its collapse from the outside, and we from the inside, but still it does not collapse."

A jest made by an Ottoman ambassador to a European Minister.

"Familiar association with heathens and infidels is forbidden to the people of Islam, and friendly and intimate intercourse between two parties that are to one another as darkness and light is far from desirable."

Asim Efendi, in his "History," 1809