“Romanian bravery is neither a musketeer’s, nor itinerant (like the Western knights’), or quixotic; it does not take initiatives: a typical example is [Mircea the Elder’s battle against the Turks at] Nikopol. I do not attack, I defend myself; I do not tease, I do not provoke; I do not crave what is not mine; I do not need surpluses;  do not burden my life with concerns that do not relate to my geographical-historical existence; the hardships I have been foreordained are enough for me; I do not set out in search of heroism.”