You, sirs, tell the truth when you say that even the most renowned generals of Rome have not done such great deeds as ours. Histories telling of these events will say, God willing, greater things of us than of what has happened before; and that we were in worshipful service to God and our country, and were guided by true justice and Christian feeling.
—Cortez addressing his comrades
during the war in Tlaxcala.
Besides the great mercies which the Almighty granted us in all we did, it seems His blessing was upon the arm of us soldiers and the good counsel we gave Cortes—how to do all things in the right way.
—Bernal Diaz del Castillo.
