[The Spanish-American War] has been a splendid little war, begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelligence and spirit, favored by that Fortune that loves the brave. It is now to be concluded, I hope, with that fine good nature, which is, after all, the distinguishing trait of the American character.

From a 1898 letter to Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, quoted in Donald E. Schmidt's The Folly of War: American Foreign Policy, 1898-2005 (2005).