Ability is of little account without opportunity.
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.
I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunch time.
The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.
When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
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 is the providence of adventurers.
Character is victory organized.
Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer.
You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your tricks of war.
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.
The conscience is the sacred haven of the liberty of man.
A Constitution should be short and obscure.
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
I have only one counsel for you -- be master.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
Courage is like love; it must have hope to nourish it.
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.
You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
Let the path be open to talent.
Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.
My downfall raises me to infinite heights.
There is no place in a fanatic's head where reason can enter.
There are only two forces that unite men -- fear and interest.
Men are Moved by two levers only: fear and self interest
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything.
The future destiny of the child is always the work of the mother.
I made all my generals out of mud.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
The art of government is not to let me grow stale.
Public instruction should be the first object of government.
Large legislative bodies resolve themselves into coteries, and coteries into jealousies.
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.
Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting.
True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge us to combat.
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
The human race is governed by its imagination.
Imagination rules the world.
Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.
The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.
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.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.
Men are lead by trifles.
Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.
An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.
The only victory over love is flight.
There is no class of people so hard to manage in a state, as those whose intentions are honest, but whose consciences are bewitched.
Incidents should not govern policy; but, policy incidents.
It is the cause, not the death that makes the martyr.
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.
Medicines are only fit for old people.
Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.
When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
A true man hates no one.
Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.
There are two levers for moving men -- interest and fear.
Music of all the arts has the most influence on the passions and the legislator should give it the greatest encouragement.
The French complain of everything, and always.
Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.
Occupation is the scythe of time.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry.
Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything.
Who saves his country violates no law.
If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon-shots.
The art of the police is not to see what it is useless that it should see.
In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
In politics, an absurdity is not a handicap.
In politics, an absurdity in public business is going into it.
The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
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.
Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
Ten persons who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
If you wish to be success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.
When I want any, good head work done; I always choose a man, if possible with a long nose.
Respect the burden.
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.
With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.
A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
Secrets travel fast in Paris.
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.
One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.
A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
Truth alone wounds.
The most insupportable of tyrannies is that of inferiors.
Vengeance has no foresight.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
The most dangerous moment comes with victory.
The only one who is wiser than anyone is everyone.