Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Strangers are just friends waiting to happen. To become a good man, one must have faithful friends, or outright enemies.
If you (to General Bertrand) do not perceive that Jesus Christ is God, very well; then I did wrong to make you a general.
Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
The sentiment of national honor is never more than half extinguished in the French. It takes only a spark to re-kindle it.
I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
Life is strewn with so many dangers, and can be the source of so many misfortunes, that death is not the greatest of them.
The process of quitting smoking doesn't end with the last cigarette. It's not quitting itself, the real key is staying quit
Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me and accepted all my views, were those who did me the most injury.
It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found.
Posterity will talk of Washington as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolution.
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.
I cannot approve of your method of operation, you proceed like a bewildered idiot, taking not the least notice of my orders.
A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.
We should always go before our enemies with confidence, otherwise our apparent uneasiness inspires them with greater boldness.
If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman.
Democracy may become frenzied, but it has feelings and can be moved. As for aristocracy, it is always cold and never forgives.
Cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them.
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rules of art--by adjusting efforts to obstacles.
Artillery is more essential to cavalry than to infantry, because cavalry has no fire for its defence, but depends on the sabre.
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.
England would be better off without Canada; it keeps her in a prepared state for war at a great expense and constant irritation.
In the last analysis, one must be a military man in order to govern. It is only with boot and spurs that one can govern a horse.
A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.
A victorious general must know how to employ severity, justness, and mildness by turns, if he would allay sedition or prevent it.
A true master of politics is able to calculate, down to the smallest fraction, the advantages to which he may put his very faults.
You cannot drag a man's conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth.
The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable.
You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.
When a man is a favorite of Fortune she never takes him unawares, and, however astonishing her favors may be, she finds him ready.
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
The spectacle of a field of battle after the combat, is sufficient to inspire Princes with the love of peace, and the horror of war.
There is no class of people so hard to manage in a state, as those whose intentions are honest, but whose consciences are bewitched.
There are two kinds of fidelity, that of dogs and that of cats; you, gentleman, have the fidelity of cats who never leave the house.
Remember that a man, a true man, never hates. His rages and his bad moods never last beyond the present moment-like electric shocks.
A King should sacrifice the best affections of his heart for the good of his country; no sacrifice should be above his determination.
Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.
I am the signet which marks the page where the revolution has been stopped; but when I die it will turn the page and resume its course.
Impossible is the word found only in a fool's dictionary. Wise people create opportunities for themselves and make everything possible.
Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.
When you have resolved to fight a battle, collect your whole force. Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day.
Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space.
In political administration, no problem is ever simple. It can never be reduced to the question whether a certain measure is good or not.
I believe love to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men. I believe, in short, that love does more harm than good.
A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him
All men of genius, and all those who have gained rank in the republic of letters, are brothers, whatever may be the land of their nativity.
Men who have changed the world never achieved their success by winning the chief citizens to their side, but always by stirring the masses.