I place my trust in the impenetrable spaces, impassable mud, and the mercy of Saint Nicholas Mirlikisky, Protector of Holy Russia.

Speech as Minister of War to the Duma, 4 August 1915, in the face of German advances. Quoted in Leon Trotsky, History of the Russian Revolution (1917), vol. 2; translated into English by Max Eastman (Simon and Schuster, 1932)