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An Army Which Cannot Be Reenforced Is Already Defeated.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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An Army Which Cannot

Napoleon Bonaparte

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An Army Which Cannot Be Reenforced Is Already Defeated.

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One Might As Well Try To Charge Through A Wall.

Variety Made The Revolution. Liberty Was Just A Pretext.

A People That Is Able To Say Everything, Becomes Able To Do Everything. The Crowd Which Follows Me With Admiration, Would Run With The Same Eagerness Were I Marching To The Guillotine.

War Is Like Government, A Matter Of Tact.

I Would Believe Any Religion That Could Prove It Had Existed Since The Beginning Of The World. But When I See Socrates, Plato, Moses, And Mohammed I Do Not Think There Is Such A One. All Religions Owe Their Origin To Man.

Every Means Should Be Taken To Attach The Soldier To His Colours.

All Religions Have Been Made By Men.

Secrets Travel Fast In Paris.

Our Credulity Is A Part Of The Imperfection Of Our Natures. It Is Inherent In Us To Desire To Generalize, When We Ought, On The Contrary, To Guard Ourselves Very Carefully From This Tendency.

If We Could Read The Past Histories Of All Our Enemies We Would Disregard All Hostility For Them.

True Heroism Consists In Being Superior To The Ills Of Life, In Whatever Shape They May Challenge Us To Combat.

The Great Difficulty With Politics Is, That There Are No Established Principles.

I Engage And After That I See What To Do.

Knowledge And History Are The Enemies Of Religion.

Never Tell Your Enemy He Is Doing The Wrong Thing.

This Year Has Begun Hopefully For Right Thinkers. After All These Centuries Of Feudal Barbarism And Political Slavery, It Is Surprising To See How The Word Of 'liberty' Sets Minds On Fire.

Machiavelli Is Right: One Always Must Live With One's Friends With The Idea That They May Turn Into One's Enemies. He Should Have Said, With Everyone.

Since The Discovery Of Printing, Knowledge Has Been Called To Power, And Power Has Been Used To Make Knowledge A Slave.

What Is History But A Fable Agreed Upon?

Writing History

Necessity Dominates Inclination, Will, And Right.

The Leader's Role Is To Define Reality, Then Give Hope

Order Marches With Weighty And Measured Strides. Disorder Is Always In A Hurry.

In War, The Moral Is To The Physical As Three Is To One.

In Politics Stupidity Is Not A Handicap.

An Order That Can Be Misunderstood, Will Be Misunderstood.

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.

Has A Man The Right To Kill Himself? Yes, If His Death Harms No One And If Life Is An Evil To Him. When Is Life An Evil? When It Offers A Man Nothing But Suffering And Pain.

Water, Air, And Cleanness Are The Chief Articles In My Pharmacy.

I Have Never Loved Anyone For Love's Sake Except, Perhaps, Josephine - A Little.

Conquest Has Made Me What I Am, Only Conquest Can Maintain Me.

The Only Conquests That Are Permanent And Leave No Regrets Are Our Conquests Over Ourselves.

Two Armies Are Two Bodies Which Meet And Try To Frighten Each Other.

In Russia There Are No Roads - Only Areas.

Men Are More Easily Governed Through Their Vices Than Through Their Virtues.

Arabia Was Idolatrous When, Six Centuries After Jesus, Muhammad Introduced The Worship Of The God Of Abraham, Of Ishmael, Of Moses, And Jesus. The Ariyans And Some Other Sects Had Disturbed The Tranquility Of The East By Agitating The Question Of The Nature Of The Father, The Son, And The Holy Ghost. Muhammad Declared That There Was None But One God Who Had No Father, No Son And That The Trinity Imported The Idea Of Idolatry.

Let France Have Good Mothers, And She Will Have Good Sons.

If You Wish To Be A Success In The World, Promise Everything, Deliver Nothing.

Broken Promises

The Best Way To Keep One's Word Is Not To Give It.

Keeping Promises

Strangers Are Just Friends Waiting To Happen. To Become A Good Man, One Must Have Faithful Friends, Or Outright Enemies.

I Tell You Wellington Is A Bad General, The English Are Bad Soldiers; We Will Settle This Matter By Lunch Time.

Do You Wish To Find Out The Really Sublime? Repeat The Lord's Prayer.

The Bed Has Become A Place Of Luxury To Me! I Would Not Exchange It For All The Thrones In The World.

In Matters Of Government, Justice Means Force As Well As Virtue.

God Has Decreed That There Be Sick And Poor In This World, But In The Next It Will Be The Other Way Around.

Leave The Artillerymen Alone, They Are An Obstinate Lot.

Nothing Makes The Future Look So Rosy As To Contemplate It Through A Glass Of Chambertin.

Every Man Who Is Worth Thirty Millions And Is Not Wedded To Them, Is Dangerous To The Government.

The Best Way To Make Every One Poor Is To Insist On Equality Of Wealth.

War Is The Business Of Barbarians.

Impossible Is The Word Found Only In A Fool's Dictionary. Wise People Create Opportunities For Themselves And Make Everything Possible.

Malice Delights To Blacken The Characters Of Prominent Men.

The Mind Of A General Ought To Resemble And Be As Clear As The Field-glass Of A Telescope.

Sometimes A Single Battle Decides Everything And Sometimes, Too, The Slightest Circumstance Decides The Issue Of A Battle. There Is A Moment In Every Battle At Which The Least Manoeuvre Is Decisive And Gives Superiority, As One Drop Of Water Causes Overflow.

The Public Spirit Is In The Hands Of The Man Who Knows How To Make Use Of It.

Soldiers Generally Win Battles; Generals Get Credit For Them.

War Is Not At All Such A Difficult Art As People Think. . . . In Reality It Would Seem That He Is Vanquished Who Is Afraid Of His Adversary And The The Whole Secret Lies In That.

Bloodletting Is Among The Ingredients Of Political Medicine.

Never Awake Me When You Have Good News To Announce, Because With Good News Nothing Presses; But When You Have Bad News, Arouse Me Immediately, For Then There Is Not An Instant To Be Lost.

In The Eyes Of Empire Builders Men Are Not Men But Instruments.

I Want The Whole Of Europe To Have One Currency; It Will Make Trading Much Easier.

Better To Have An Open Enemy, Than Hidden Friends.

Vengeance Has No Foresight.

Among So Many Conflicting Ideas And So Many Different Perspectives, The Honest Man Is Confused And Distressed And The Skeptic Becomes Wicked ... Since One Must Take Sides, One Might As Well Choose The Side That Is Victorious, The Side Which Devastates, Loots, And Burns. Considering The Alternative, It Is Better To Eat Than To Be Eaten.

My True Glory Is Not To Have Won 40 Battles ... Waterloo Will Erase The Memory Of So Many Victories, ... But ... What Will Live Forever, Is My Civil Code.

We Are Nothing But By The Law.

It Should Not Be Believed That A March Of Three Or Four Days In The Wrong Direction Can Be Corrected By A Countermarch. As A Rule, This Is To Make Two Mistakes Instead Of One.

Muhammad Was A Great Man, An Intrepid Soldier; With A Handful Of Men He Triumphed At The Battle Of Bender (sic); A Great Captain, Eloquent, A Great Man Of State, He Revived His Fatherland And Created A New People And A New Power In The Middle Of Arabia.

Music Is The Voice That Tells Us That The Human Race Is Greater Than It Knows.

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

No Amount Of Money Will Induce Someone To Lay Down Their Life, But They Will Gladly Do So For A Bit Of Yellow Ribbon.

Strategy Is The Art Of Making Use Of Time And Space. I Am Less Concerned About The Later Than The Former. Space We Can Recover, Lost Time Never.

Power Is What They Like - It Is The Greatest Of All Aphrodisiacs.

The Life Of A Citizen Is The Property Of His Country.

I Am The Successor, Not Of Louis Xvi, But Of Charlemagne.

Medicine Is A Collection Of Uncertain Prescriptions, The Results Of Which, Taken Collectively, Are More Fatal Than Useful To Mankind.

Tis A Principle Of War That When You Can Use The Lightning, 'tis Better Than Cannon.

There Are Certain Things In War Of Which The Commander Alone Comprehends The Importance. Nothing But His Superior Firmness And Ability Can Subdue And Surmount All Difficulties.

If You Want To Get On In This World Make Many Promises, But Don't Keep Them.

An Army's Effectiveness Depends On Its Size, Training, Experience, And Morale, And Morale Is Worth More Than Any Of The Other Factors Combined.

But It Is At Home And Not In Public That One Should Wash Ones Dirty Linen. [fr., Car C'est En Famille, Ce N'est Pas En Public, Qu'un Lave Son Linge Sale.]

Men Grow Old Quickly On The Battlefield.

In War As In Love, To Bring Matters To A Close, You Must Get Close Together.

It's The Unconquerable Soul Of Man, And Not The Nature Of The Weapon He Uses, That Ensures Victory

We Are Either Kings Or Pawns Of Men

One Must Indeed Be Ignorant Of The Methods Of Genius To Suppose That It Allows Itself To Be Cramped By Forms. Forms Are For Mediocrity, And It Is Fortunate That Mediocrity Can Act Only According To Routine. Ability Takes Its Flight Unhindered.

If I Had To Choose A Religion, The Sun As The Universal Giver Of Life Would Be My God.

What Are The Conditions That Make For The Superiority Of An Army? Its Internal Organization, Military Habits In Officers And Men, The Confidence Of Each In Themselves; That Is To Say, Bravery, Patience, And All That Is Contained In The Idea Of Moral Means.

A Man Is Known By His Conduct To His Wife, To His Family, And To Those Under Him.

A Leader Is A Dealer In Hope.

Ordinarily Men Exercise Their Memory Much More Than Their Judgment.

I Love A Brave Soldier Who Has Undergone The Baptism Of Fire.

When I Want Any, Good Head Work Done; I Always Choose A Man, If Possible With A Long Nose.

The Confidence With Which A Sovereign Is Invested, Is Solid Only When It Is Sanctioned By The Suffrages Of The People, Who Clothed Him With The Supreme Magistracy.

A King Should Sacrifice The Best Affections Of His Heart For The Good Of His Country; No Sacrifice Should Be Above His Determination.

Character Is Victory Organized.

Providence Is Always On The Side Of The Last Reserve.

Better Live A King, Than A Prince.

Let Her Sleep, For When She Wakes, She Will Shake The World.

A Great People May Be Killed, But They Cannot Be Intimidated.

The Best Cure For The Body Is A Quiet Mind.

The Truest Wisdom Is A Resolute Determination.

Equality Should Be The Chief Basis Of The Education Of Youth.

The Best Generals Are Those Who Have Served In The Artillery.

Sire, I Am My Own Rudolph Of Hapsburg.

Rashness Succeeds Often, Still More Often Fails.

War Is Ninety Percent Information.

Military Despotism Represses Generous Sentiments, Priestly Tyranny Stifles Them.

A Well-composed Song Strikes The Mind And Softens The Feelings, And Produces A Greater Effect Than A Moral Work, Which Convinces Our Reason, But Does Not Warm Our Feelings, Nor Effect The Slightest Alteration In Our Habits

One Is More Certain To Influence Men, To Produce More Effect On Them, By Absurdities Than By Sensible Ideas.

In Politics... Never Retreat, Never Retract... Never Admit A Mistake.

Circumstances-what Are Circumstances? I Make Circumstances

Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever.

In Order To Govern, The Question Is Not To Follow Out A More Or Less Valid Theory But To Build With Whatever Materials Are At Hand. The Inevitable Must Be Accepted And Turned To Advantage.

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.

If I Were To Give Liberty To The Press, My Power Could Not Last Three Days.

I Shall Be An Attila To Venice.

I Have Noticed In Every Campaign That I Have Fought-that There Is A Key Segment Of Time, Somewhere Between 13 And 15 Minutes In Which The Battle Is Won Or Lost. I Focus On That Segment Of Time, And I Win.

Posterity Will Talk Of Washington As The Founder Of A Great Empire, When My Name Shall Be Lost In The Vortex Of Revolution.

You Become Strong By Defying Defeat And By Turning Loss Into Gain And Failure To Success.

We Walk Faster When We Walk Alone.

Ability Is Of Little Account Without Opportunity. I Have Very Rarely Met With Two O'clock In The Morning Courage: I Mean Instantaneous Courage.

Human Life Is The Only Thing That Takes Care Of Itself.

Why And How Are Words So Important That They Cannot Be Too Often Used.

A Man Made For Public Life And Authority Never Takes Account Of Personalities; He Only Takes Account Of Things, Of Their Weight And Their Conseqences.

We Must Laugh At Man To Avoid Crying For Him.

Revolutions Are Like The Most Noxious Dungheaps, Which Bring Into Life The Noblest Vegetables.

No One But Myself Can Be Blamed For My Fall. I Have Been My Own Greatest Enemy-the Cause Of My Own Disastrous Fate.

Give Me A Man With A Good Allowance Of Nose,... When I Want Any Good Head-work Done I Choose A Man - Provided His Education Has Been Suitable - With A Long Nose.

My Mind Is A Chest Of Drawers. When I Wish To Deal With A Subject, I Shut All The Drawers But The One In Which The Subject Is To Be Found. When I Am Wearied, I Shut All The Drawers And Go To Sleep.

History Is A Set Of Lies Agreed Upon.

In War, As In Politics, No Evil - Even If It Is Permissible Under The Rules - Is Excusable Unless It Is Absolutely Necessary. Everything Beyond That Is A Crime.

England Is A Nation Of Shopkeepers.

Each State Claims The Right To Control Interests Foreign To Itself When Those Interests Are Such That It Can Control Them Without Putting Its Own Interests In Danger. ... Other Powers Only Recognize This Right Of Intervening In Proportion As The Country Doing It Has The Power To Do It.

All The Great Captains Have Performed Vast Achievements By Conforming With The Rules Of Art--by Adjusting Efforts To Obstacles.

How Can You Have Order In A State Without Religion? For, When One Man Is Dying Of Hunger Near Another Who Is Ill Of Surfeit, He Cannot Resign Himself To This Difference Unless There Is An Authority Which Declares 'god Wills It Thus.' Religion Is Excellent Stuff For Keeping Common People Quiet.

Until You Spread Your Wings, You'll Have No Idea How Far You Can Fly.

Where Flowers Degenerate Man Cannot Live.

Every French Soldier Carriers A Marshal's Baton In His Knapsack.

A Man Will Fight Harder For His Interests Than For His Rights.

You May Ask Me For Anything You Like Except Time.

In War, Character And Opinion Make More Than Half Of The Reality.

Strong Coffee, Much Strong Coffee, Is What Awakens Me. Coffee Gives Me Warmth, Waking, An Unusual Force And A Pain That Is Not Without Very Great Pleasure.

God! How Men Of Letters Are Stupid.

A Mathematician Of The First Rank, Laplace Quickly Revealed Himself As Only A Mediocre Administrator; From His First Work We Saw That We Had Been Deceived. Laplace Saw No Question From Its True Point Of View; He Sought Subtleties Everywhere; Had Only Doubtful Ideas, And Finally Carried The Spirit Of The Infinitely Small Into Administration.

One Should Never Forbid What One Lacks The Power To Prevent.

A Great Reputation Is A Great Noise, The More There Is Of It, And The Further Does It Swell. Land, Monuments, Nations, All Fall, But The Noise Remains, And Will Reach To Other Generations.

There Is No Such Thing As An Accident, Only A Failure To Recognise The Hand Of Fate

Victory And Disaster Establish Indestructible Bonds Between Armies And Their Commanders.

You Can Not Lead A Battle If You Think You Look Silly On A Horse.

Liberty And Equality Are Magical Words.

Liberty And Equality

Put A Rogue In The Limelight And He Will Act Like An Honest Man.

The Human Race Is Governed By Its Imagination.

All Great Events Hang By A Single Thread. The Clever Man Takes Advantage Of Everything, Neglects Nothing That May Give Him Some Added Opportunity; The Less Clever Man, By Neglecting One Thing, Sometimes Misses Everything.

To Negotiate Is Not To Do As One Likes.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, And I Have Founded Empires. But On What Did We Rest The Creations Of Our Genius? Upon Force. Jesus Christ Founded His Empire Upon Love; And At This Hour Millions Of Men Would Die For Him.

Inspirational Love

Muhammad Was A Prince; He Rallied His Compatriots Around Him. In A Few Years, The Muslims Conquered Half Of The World. They Plucked More Souls From False Gods, Knocked Down More Idols, Razed More Pagan Temples In Fifteen Years Than The Followers Of Moses And Jesus Did In Fifteen Centuries. Muhammad Was A Great Man. He Would Indeed Have Been A God, If The Revolution That He Had Performed Had Not Been Prepared By The Circumstances.

Clever Policy Consists In Making Nations Believe They Are Free.

Ambition Never Is In A Greater Hurry That I; It Merely Keeps Pace With Circumstances And With My General Way Of Thinking.

The Most Terrible Of All My Battles Was The One Before Moscow. The French Showed Themselves To Be Worthy Of Victory, But The Russians Showed Themselves Worthy Of Being Invincible.

To Be Believed Make The Truth Unbelievable.

Men Are Moved By Two Levers Only: Fear And Self Interest.

From The Heights Of These Pyramids, Forty Centuries Look Down On Us.

The Surest Way To Remain Poor Is To Be An Honest Man.

He Who Cannot Look Over A Battlefield With A Dry Eye, Causes The Death Of Many Men Uselessly.

Space We Can Recover; Time Never.

Procrastination

An Army Which Cannot Be Reenforced Is Already Defeated.

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 Principles Which Direct Them.

Destiny Urges Me To A Goal Of Which I Am Ignorant. Until That Goal Is Attained I Am Invulnerable, Unassailable. When Destiny Has Accomplished Her Purpose In Me, A Fly May Suffice To Destroy Me.

Give Me Enough Medals And I’ll Win You Any War

There Must Be Religion. Otherwise The Poor Would Murder The Rich.

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.

There Is No Class Of People So Hard To Manage In A State, As Those Whose Intentions Are Honest, But Whose Consciences Are Bewitched.

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.

I Cannot Approve Of Your Method Of Operation, You Proceed Like A Bewildered Idiot, Taking Not The Least Notice Of My Orders.

Jesus Chris Was More Than Man.

A General-in-chief Should Ask Himself Several Times In The Day, What If The Enemy Were To Appear Now In My Front, Or On My Right, Or My Left?

We Should Always Go Before Our Enemies With Confidence, Otherwise Our Apparent Uneasiness Inspires Them With Greater Boldness.

War Is Cruel To The People, And Terrible To The Conquered.

When You Have An Enemy In Your Power, Deprive Him Of The Means Of Ever Injuring You.

Imagination Governs The World.

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.

All Becomes Easy When We Follow The Current Of Opinion; It Is The Ruler Of The World.

It Is The Business Of Cavalry To Follow Up The Victory, And To Prevent The Beaten Army From Rallying.

Liberty Is A Need Felt By A Small Class Of People Whom Nature Has Endowed With Nobler Minds Than The Mass Of Men;.... Consequently, It May Be Repressed With Impunity. Equality, On The Other Hand, Pleases The Masses.

All Things Proclaim The Existence Of God.

Existence Of God

Reconnaissance Memoranda Should Always Be Written In The Simplest Style And Be Purely Descriptive. They Should Never Stray From Their Objective By Introducing Extraneous Ideas.

It Is Exceptional And Difficult To Find In One Man All The Qualities Necessary For A Great General.

The Battlefield Is A Scene Of Constant Chaos. The Winner Will Be The One Who Controls That Chaos, Both His Own And The Enemies.

Men Soon Get Tired Of Shedding Their Blood For The Advantage Of A Few Individuals, Who Think They Amply Reward The Soldiers Perils With The Treasures They Amass.

Religions Are All Founded On Miracles - On Things We Cannot Understand, Such As The Trinity. Jesus Calls Himself The Son Of God, And Yet Is Descended From David. I Prefer The Religion Of Mahomet - It Is Less Ridiculous Than Ours.

Time Is The Great Art Of Man.

An Aristocracy Is The True Support Of A Monarchy.

Read Over And Over Again The Campaigns Of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene And Frederic. ... This Is The Only Way To Become A Great General And Master The Secrets Of The Art Of War.

Never Ascribe To Malice That Which Is Adequately Explained By Stupidity.

Treason Is A Matter Of Dates.

The Implements To Him Who Can Handle Them.

All Systems Of Morality Are Fine. The Gospel Alone Has Exhibited A Complete Assemblage Of The Principles Of Morality, Divested Of All Absurdity. It Is Not Composed, Like Your Creed, Of A Few Common-place Sentences Put Into Bad Verse. Do You Wish To See That Which Is Really Sublime? Repeat The Lord's Prayer.

Alexander, Charlemagne And Myself All Tried To Found An Empire On Force And We Failed. Jesus Christ Is Building An Empire On Love, And Today There Are Millions Of People Who Would Gladly Die For His Sake.

An Emperor Confides In National Soldiers, Not In Mercenaries.

Six Hours' Sleep For A Man, Seven For A Woman, And Eight For A Fool.

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