The reluctant obedience of distant provinces generally costs more than it The Territory is worth. Empires which branch out widely are often more flourishing for a little timely pruning. – Thomas Babington Macaulay

An empire is an immense egotism. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Without the Empire we should be tossed like a cork in the cross current of world politics. It is at once our sword and our shield. – William Morris Hughes

A thousand years may scare form a state. An hour may lay it in ruins. – Lord (George Gordon) Byron