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Prussia Was Hatched From A Cannon-ball.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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Prussia Was Hatched From

Napoleon Bonaparte

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Prussia Was Hatched From A Cannon-ball.

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If You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

A Soul You Say? Give My Pocketwatch To A Savage And He'll Think It Has A Soul.

Once You Have Made Up Your Mind, Stick To It; There Is No Longer Any 'if' Or 'but'.

I Engage And After That I See What To Do.

The Fate Of War Is To Be Exalted In The Morning, And Low Enough At Night! There Is But One Step From Triumph To Ruin.

He That Makes War Without Many Mistakes Has Not Made War Very Long.

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.

Promptly Improve Your Accidents.

Nothing Is More Arrogant Than The Weakness Which Feels Itself Supported By Power.

A Revolution Is An Idea Which Has Found Its Bayonets.

Ten People Who Speak Make More Noise Than Ten Thousand Who Are Silent.

Death Is Nothing, But To Live Defeated And Inglorious Is To Die Daily.

Better To Have An Open Enemy, Than Hidden Friends.

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

Being In The Tuileries Is Not Everything: What Matters Is To Stay Here.

The World Soffers A Lot. Not Because The Violence Of Bad People. But Because Of The Silence Of The Good People.

Diplomacy Is The Police In Grand Costume.

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.

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

A Commander In Chief Ought To Say To Himself Several Times A Day: If The Enemy Should Appear On My Front, On My Right, On My Left, What Would I Do? And If The Question Finds Him Uncertain, He Is Not Well Placed, He Is Not As He Should Be, And He Should Remedy It.

There Is A Joy In Danger.

I Fear Three Newspapers More Than A Hundred Thousand Bayonets.

Act Swiftly And Vigorously, Without 'buts' And 'ifs'.

Incidents Should Not Govern Policy; But, Policy Incidents.

God Is On The Side Of The Heaviest Cannon.

The Art Of The Police Is Not To See What It Is Useless That It Should See.

The Greater The Man, The Less Is He Opinionative, He Depends Upon Events And Circumstances.

I Make My Battle Plans From The Spirit Of My Sleeping Soldiers

Better To Have A Known Enemy Than A Forced Ally.

Nothing Is More Destructive Than The Charge Of Artillery On A Crowd.

I See Only My Objective - The Obstacles Must Give Way.

What A Beautiful Fix We Are In Now; Peace Has Been Declared.

A Soldier Will Fight Long And Hard For A Bit Of Colored Ribbon.

The Implements To Him Who Can Handle Them.

My Downfall Raises Me To Infinite Heights.

I Saw The Crown Of France Laying On The Ground, So I Picked It Up With My Sword.

One Must Change One's Tactics Every Ten Years If One Wishes To Maintain One's Superiority.

History Is The Invention Of Historians.

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.

War Must Be Made As Intense And Awful As Possible In Order To Make It Short, And Thus To Diminish Its Horrors.

Nothing Is So Important In War As An Undivided Command.

Whatever Shall We Do In That Remote Spot? Well, We Will Write Our Memoirs. Work Is The Scythe Of Time.

In These Days The Invention Of Printing, And The Diffusion Of Knowledge, Render Historical Calumnies A Little Less Dangerous: Truth Will Always Prevail In The Long Run, But How Slow Its Progress!

The Secret Of Great Battles Consists In Knowing How To Deploy And Concentrate At The Right Time.

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

Many A One Commits A Reprehensible Action, Who Is At Bottom An Honourable Man, Because Man Seldom Acts Upon Natural Impulse, But From Some Secret Passion Of The Moment Which Lies Hidden And Concealed Within The Narrowest Folds Of His Heart.

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.

A Commander-in-chief Cannot Take As An Excuse For His Mistakes In Warfare An Order Given By His Sovereign Or His Minister When The Person Giving The Order Is Absent From The Field Of Operations And Is Imperfectly Aware Or Wholly Unaware Of The Latest State Of Affairs. It Follows That Any Commander-in-chief Who Undertakes To Carry Out A Plan Which He Considers Defective Is At Fault; He Must Put Forward His Reasons, Insist On The Plan Being Changed, And Finally Tender His Resignation Rather Than Be The Instrument Of His Army's Downfall.

Opportunities? I Make Opportunities.

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

It Is Only By Prudence, Wisdom, And Dexterity That Great Ends Are Attained And Obstacles Overcome. Without These Qualities Nothing Succeeds.

While I Live I Will Never Resort To Irredeemable Paper.

He, Who Practices Right, But In The Hope Of Acquiring Great Renown, Is Very Near To Vice.

Riches Do Not Consist In The Possession Of Treasures, But In The Use Made Of Them.

Self Improvement

What Is A Throne? - A Bit Of Wood Gilded And Covered In Velvet. I Am The State- I Alone Am Here The Representative Of The People. Even If I Had Done Wrong You Should Not Have Reproached Me In Public - People Wash Their Dirty Linen At Home. France Has More Need Of Me Than I Of France.

Ordinary Men Died, Men Of Iron Were Taken Prisoner: I Only Brought Back With Me Men Of Bronze.

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

Courage Is Like Love; It Must Have Hope For Nourishment.

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

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

The Process Of Quitting Smoking Doesn't End With The Last Cigarette. It's Not Quitting Itself, The Real Key Is Staying Quit

Rigorous Authority And Justice Are The Kindness Of Kings.

Better Live A King, Than A Prince.

The Poor Man Commands Respect; The Beggar Must Always Excite Anger.

Obedience To Public Authority Ought Not To Be Based Either On Ignorance Or Stupidity.

The Advance And Perfecting Of Mathematics Are Closely Joined To The Prosperity Of The Nation.

It's Not The Size Of The Army But The Power Within The Army.

The Only Victory Over Love Is Flight.

Brave Deeds Are The Monuments Of Brave Men.

Cavalry Is Useful Before, During, And After The Battle.

It Is Neither Holy, Roman Or An Empire.

When I Had The Honor To Be A Second Lieutenant, I Ate Dry Bread, But I Never Let Anyone Know That I Was Poor.

Imagination Rules The World.

There Is One Kind Of Robber Whom The Law Does Not Strike At, And Who Steals What Is Most Precious To Men: Time.

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

In Politics Nothing Is Immutable. Events Carry Within Them An Invincible Power.

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

The Best Cure For The Body Is A Quiet Mind.

Great Ambition Is The Passion Of A Great Character.

It Is A Mistake, Too, To Say That The Face Is The Mirror Of The Soul. The Truth Is, Men Are Very Hard To Know, And Yet, Not To Be Deceived, We Must Judge Them By Their Present Actions, But For The Present Only.

Artillery Is More Essential To Cavalry Than To Infantry, Because Cavalry Has No Fire For Its Defence, But Depends On The Sabre.

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

The Admiral Needs Only One Science, That Of Navigation. The General Needs All The Sciences.

Pure Politics Is Merely The Calculus Of Combinations And Of Chances.

Ordinarily Men Exercise Their Memory Much More Than Their Judgment.

Mankind Are In The End Always Governed By Superiority Of Intellectual Faculties, And None Are More Sensible Of This Than The Military Profession. When, On My Return From Italy, I Assumed The Dress Of The Institute, And Associated With Men Of Science, I Knew What I Was Doing: I Was Sure Of Not Being Misunderstood By The Lowest Drummer Boy In The Army.

Malice Delights To Blacken The Characters Of Prominent Men.

Greatness Be Nothing Unless It Be Lasting.

As To Moral Courage, I Have Very Rarely Met With The Two O'clock In The Morning Kind. I Mean Unprepared Courage, That Which Is Necessary On An Unexpected Occasion, And Which, In Spite Of The Most Unforeseen Events, Leaves Full Freedom Of Judgement And Decision.

Bloodletting Is Among The Ingredients Of Political Medicine.

A Leader Has The Right To Be Beaten, But Never The Right To Be Surprised.

In Time Of Revolution, With Perseverance And Courage, A Soldier Should Think Nothing Impossible.

A Great European Federative System Alone Can Be Favourable To The Development Of Civilisation.

An Army Travels On Its Stomach. Soup Makes The Soldier.

Between A Battle Lost And A Battle Won, The Distance Is Immense And There Stand Empires.

We Are Nothing But By The Law.

From First To Last, Jesus Is The Same; Always The Same--majestic And Simple, Infinitely Severe And Infinitely Gentle.

To Command, You Must First Of All Speak To The Eyes.

Battles Are Lost Or Won In 15 Minutes

Agriculture Is The Soul And Chief Support Of Empires; Industry Produces Riches And The Happiness Of The People; Exportation Represents The Superabundance, And Good Use Of Both.

Space We Can Recover; Time Never.

Procrastination

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

I Have Doubtless Erred More Or Less In Politics, But A Crime I Never Committed.

I Closed The Gulf Of Anarchy And Brought Order Out Of Chaos. I Rewarded Merit Regardless Of Birth Or Wealth, Wherever I Found It. I Abolished Feudalism And Restored Equality To All Regardless Of Religion And Before The Law. I Fought The Decrepit Monarchies Of The Old Regime Because The Alternative Was The Destruction Of All This. I Purified The Revolution.

Anarchy Is The Stepping Stone To Absolute Power.

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

I Have Come To Realise That Men Are Not Born To Be Free.

Born To Be Free

Success Is The Most Convincing Talker In The World.

Great Men Grow Tired Of Contentedness.

A Constitution Should Be Framed So As Not To Impede The Action Of Government, Nor Force The Government To Its Violation.

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.

To Live, Is To Suffer; And The Honest Man Is Always Fighting To Be Master Of His Own Mind.

Lead The Ideas Of Your Time And They Will Accompany And Support You; Fall Behind Them And They Drag You Along With Them; Oppose Them And They Will Overwhelm You.

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

In War There Is But One Favorable Moment; The Great Art Is To Seize It!

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

Love Is The Occupation Of The Idle Man, The Amusement Of A Busy One, And The Shipwreck Of A Sovereign.

War Is Like Government, A Matter Of Tact.

The Purely Defensive Is Doomed To Defeat.

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

It's The People Who Are In The Wrong Who Get Angry.

A Government Protected By Foreigners Will Never Be Accepted By A Free People.

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

The Populace Judges Of The Power Of God By The Power Of The Priests.

Circumstances-what Are Circumstances? I Make Circumstances

The Art Of Being Sometimes Audacious And Sometimes Very Prudent Is The Secret Of Success.

The Sovereignty Of The People Is Inalienable.

In Our Time No One Has The Conception Of What Is Great. It Is Up To Me To Show Them.

When Defending Itself Against Another Country, A Nation Never Lacks Men, But Too Often, Soldiers.

Send Me 300 Francs; That Sum Will Enable Me To Go To Paris. There, At Least, One Can Cut A Figure And Surmount Obstacles. Everything Tells Me I Shall Succeed. Will You Prevent Me From Doing So For The Want Of 100 Crowns?

Where Flowers Degenerate Man Cannot Live.

A Prince Should Suspect Everything.

Religion Is What Keeps The Poor From Murdering The Rich.

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

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

Music, Of All The Liberal Arts, Has The Greatest Influence Over The Passions, And It Is That To Which The Legislator Ought To Give The Greatest Encouragement.

I Made All My Generals Out Of Mud.

The Great Proof Of Madness Is The Disproportion Of One's Designs To One's Means.

When You Have Resolved To Fight A Battle, Collect Your Whole Force. Dispense With Nothing. A Single Battalion Sometimes Decides The Day.

The Tools Belong To The Man Who Can Use Them.

A Society Without Religion Is Like A Vessel Without Compass.

On Victory, You Deserve Beer. On Defeat, You Need It.

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.

An Army Which Cannot Be Regularly Recruited Is A Doomed Army.

Soldiers! Forty Centuries Behold You!

Un Croquis Vaut Mieux Qu

History Is Written By The Winners.

Governments Keep Their Promises Only When They Are Forced, Or When It Is To Their Advantage To Do So.

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

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.

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 Merit Of Mahomet Is That He Founded A Religion Without An Inferno.

Clever Policy Consists In Making Nations Believe They Are Free.

Those Who Have Changed The Universe Have Never Done It By Changing Officials, But Always By Inspiring The People.

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.

France Has More Need Of Me Than I Have Need Of France.

The Nature Of Christ Is, I Grant It, From One End To Another, A Web Of Mysteries; But This Mysteriousness Does Not Correspond To The Difficulties Which All Existence Contains. Let It Be Rejected, And The Whole World Is An Enigma; Let It Be Accepted, And We Possess A Wonderful Explanation Of The History Of Man.

In War The Simplest Manoeuvres Are The Best.

There Are Only Two Forces That Unite Men - Fear And Interest.

Men Of Genius Are Meteors Destined To Burn Themselves Out In Lighting Up Their Age.

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

The Army Is The True Nobility Of Our Country.

The Nature Of Christ's Existence Is Mysterious, I Admit; But This Mystery Meets The Wants Of Man. Reject It, And The World Is An Inexplicable Riddle; Believe It, And The History Of Our Race Is Satisfactorily Explained.

Give Me A Turkish Army. I Will Conquer World.

Sometimes A Great Example Is Necessary To All The Public Functionaries Of The State.

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

It Is Only With Prudence, Sagacity, And Much Dexterity That Great Aims Are Accomplished, And All Obstacles Surmounted. Otherwise Nothing Is Accomplished.

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.

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.

Public Esteem Is The Recompense Of Honest Men.

I Would Rather Have A General Who Was Lucky Than One Who Was Good.

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

So You Think The Police Foresees And Knows Everything. The Police Invents More Than It Discovers.

Do You Know What Amazes Me More Than Anything Else? The Impotence Of Force To Organize Anything.

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

With Audacity One Can Undertake Anything, But Not Do Everything.

Oh Well, No Matter What Happens, There's Always Death.

France Needs Nothing So Much To Promote Her Regeneration As Good Mothers.

One Bad General Is Worth Two Good Ones.

When Firmness Is Sufficient, Rashness Is Unnecessary.

A Beautiful Woman Like Eyes, And A Good Heart; One Is A Beautiful Thing, And Other Treasures.

Rascality Has Limits; Stupidity Has Not.

Time Is The Great Art Of Man.

Forethought We May Have, Undoubtedly, But Not Foresight.

A General Must Be A Charlatan.

I Am Surrounded By Priests Who Repeat Incessantly That Their Kingdom Is Not Of This World, And Yet They Lay Their Hands On Everything They Can Get.

You Can Do Anything With Bayonets Except Sit On Them

A Man's Palate Can, In Time, Become Accustomed To Anything.

The Only True Conquests-those That Awaken No Regrets- Are Those Obtained Over Our Ignorance.

Fanaticism Must Be Put To Sleep Before It Can Be Eradicated.

We Must Serve The People Worthily, And Not Occupy Ourselves In Trying To Please Them. The Best Way, To Gain Their Affections Is To Do Them Good.

War Is Ninety Percent Information.

Patriotism Is A Word Which Represents A Noble Idea.

A Revolution Can Be Neither Made Nor Stopped. The Only Thing That Can Be Done Is For One Of Several Of Its Children To Give It A Direction By Dint Of Victories.

Those Who Failed To Oppose Me, Who Readily Agreed With Me And Accepted All My Views, Were Those Who Did Me The Most Injury.

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.

Our Hour Is Marked, And No One Can Claim A Moment Of Life Beyond What Fate Has Predestined.

Unavailable Wars Are Always Just.

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.

We Often Get In Quicker By The Back Door Than By The Front.

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