Quotations and Poems

» Ambition » “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.”

» Argument » “I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunch time.”

» Army and Navy » “The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.”

» Battles » “When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.”

» Caution » “The torment of precautions often exceeds often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.”

» Chance » “Chance is the providence of adventurers.”

» Character » “Character is victory organized.”

» Christians and Christianity » “Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.”

» Competition » “You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your tricks of war.”

» Conflict » “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.”

» Conscience » “The conscience is the sacred haven of the liberty of man.”

» Constitutions » “A Constitution should be short and obscure.”

» Control » “The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.”

» Control » “I have only one counsel for you — be master.”

» Control » “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”

» Courage » “Courage is like love; it must have hope to nourish it.”

» Courage » “It requires more courage to suffer than to die.”

» Crime and Criminals » “The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.”

» Death and Dying » “You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy’s ranks.”

» Decisions » “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

» Direction » “Let the path be open to talent.”

» Doctors » “Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.”

» Failure » “My downfall raises me to infinite heights.”

» Fanatics and Fanaticism » “There is no place in a fanatic’s head where reason can enter.”

» Fear » “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”

» Fear » “Men are Moved by two levers only: fear and self interest”

» Fear » “There are only two forces that unite men — fear and interest.”

» Freedom of Speech » “A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything.”

» Future » “The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.”

» Generals » “I made all my generals out of mud.”

» Glory » “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”

» Government » “Large legislative bodies resolve themselves into coteries, and coteries into jealousies.”

» Government » “Public instruction should be the first object of government.”

» Government » “The art of government is not to let me grow stale.”

» Greatness » “Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.”

» Greatness » “Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting.”

» Greatness » “The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.”

» Heroes and Heroism » “True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat.”

» History and Historians » “From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.”

» Humor » “We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.”

» Imagination » “Imagination rules the world.”

» Imagination » “The human race is governed by its imagination.”

» Impossibility » “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.”

» Insanity » “The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs to one’s means.”

» Jesus Christ » “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

» Leaders and Leadership » “When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.”

» Leaders and Leadership » “An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.”

» Leaders and Leadership » “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

» Leaders and Leadership » “Men are lead by trifles.”

» Leaders and Leadership » “Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.”

» Love » “The only victory over love is flight.”

» Management » “Incidents should not govern policy; but, policy incidents.”

» Management » “There is no class of people so hard to manage in a state, as those whose intentions are honest, but whose consciences are bewitched.”

» Martyrdom » “It is the cause, not the death that makes the martyr.”

» Medicine » “The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.”

» Medicine » “Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.”

» Medicine » “Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.”

» Medicine » “Medicines are only fit for old people.”

» Mediocrity » “When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.”

» Men » “A true man hates no one.”

» Mothers » “Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.”

» Motivation » “There are two levers for moving men — interest and fear.”

» Music » “Music of all the arts has the most influence on the passions and the legislator should give it the greatest encouragement.”

» Nations » “The French complain of everything, and always.”

» Newspapers » “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”

» Occupation » “Occupation is the scythe of time.”

» Oppression » “Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.”

» Order » “Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry.”

» Organization » “Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything.”

» Patriotism » “Who saves his country violates no law.”

» Peace » “If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon-shots.”

» Police » “The art of the police is not to see what it is useless that it should see.”

» Politicians and Politics » “In politics, an absurdity is not a handicap.”

» Poverty and The Poor » “The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.”

» Power » “Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.”

» Power » “Ten persons who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.”

» Power » “I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.”

» Promises » “The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.”

» Promises » “If you wish to be success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.”

» Public Opinion » “Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.”

» Quality » “When I want any, good head work done; I always choose a man, if possible with a long nose.”

» Respectability » “Respect the burden.”

» Respectability » “A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.”

» Riches » “Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.”

» Risk » “With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.”

» Royalty » “A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.”

» Secrets » “Secrets travel fast in Paris.”

» Spirit and Spirituality » “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.”

» Strategies » “One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.”

» Taste » “A man’s palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.”

» Truth » “Truth alone wounds.”

» Tyranny » “The most insupportable of tyrannies is that of inferiors.”

» Vengeance » “Vengeance has no foresight.”

» Victory » “The most dangerous moment comes with victory.”

» Victory » “Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

» Wisdom » “The only one who is wiser than anyone is everyone.”