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It is in times of difficulty that great nations like great men display the whole energy of their character and become an object of admiration to posterity.
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If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
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No one but myself can be blamed for my fall. I have been my own greatest enemy-the cause of my own disastrous fate.
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The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes.
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Better to have an open enemy, than hidden friends.
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Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.
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In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.
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Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.
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Six hours' sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.
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We live and die in the midst of marvels.
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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.
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A woman laughing is a woman conquered.
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True heroism consists in rising superior to misfortune.
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You think you are too intelligent to believe in God. I am not like you.
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Morality for the upper classes, the gallows for the rabbles.
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France always has plenty men of talent, but it is always deficient in men of action and high character.
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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.
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The reason I beat the Austrians is, they did not known the value of five minutes.
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What my enemies call a general peace is my destruction. What I call peace is merely the disarmament of my enemies. Am I not more moderate than they?
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Better to have a known enemy than a forced ally.
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Called to the throne by the voice of the people, my maxim has always been: A career open to talent without distinction of birth. It is this system of equality for which the European oligarchy detests me.
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Tis a principle of war that when you can use the lightning, 'tis better than cannon.
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In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything.
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War is like government, a matter of tact.