“The Ottoman Empire lived for war. Every governor in this empire was a general; every policeman was a janissary; every mountain pass had its guards, and every road a military destination.”
~Jason Goodwin, Lords of the Horizons: a History of the Ottoman Empire (1998).

“This statement [by Goodwin] constitutes a concise précis of a damaging and misleading stereotype, long pervasive in both Europe and the United States.”
~Daniel Goffman, The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe (2002).