Mehmed Ali boasted his disciplined troops could destroy any rival with 2000 men

Evidence

The man is an ass, he cannot maintain [his men] and has sent already to me for supplies. He wished to make a figure for his own no doubt or perhaps to please me as he might imagine, but I want no great men for my friends … As to doing anything against me if that should be his idea, it only shows his folly; if I were to send against him 2,000 of my disciplined troops only they would destroy him. ‘Abdallah Pasha is with me, the Druses are on my side. I can command the Arabs of the desert. The man is a fool … — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 212

Categorization

• SHARE: A vivid, quotable boast from Mehmed Ali showing both his confidence in his new army and his patronizing view of rivals.
• CANDY: A colorful historical insult — ‘The man is an ass’ — that conveys the Pasha’s arrogance and military confidence in one line.