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The true wealth of a state consists in the number of its inhabitants, in their toil and industry.
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An Emperor confides in national soldiers, not in mercenaries.
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Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people.
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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.
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The Bible is not merely a book-it is a living power. . . . Nowhere as in the Bible can be found such a series of beautiful ideas and admirable maxims which pose before us like the battalions of a celestial army. . . . The soul can never go astray while it has this book for its guide.
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Put a rogue in the limelight and he will act like an honest man.
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Whatever shall we do in that remote spot? Well, we will write our memoirs. Work is the scythe of time.
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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.
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I have come to realise that men are not born to be free.
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Paradise is a center whither the souls of all men are proceeding, each sect in its particular road.
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Good intelligence is nine-tenths of any battle.
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A magistrate is not a father; he must be just and severe. Only tyrants are fathers.
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A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle.
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The people excited by ambitious demagogues, sooner or later return into the hands of the Aristocracy.
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Great events ever depend but upon a single hair. The adroit man profits by everything, neglects nothing which can increase his chances; the less adroit, by sometimes disregarding a single chance, fails in everything.
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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.
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Clearly, the pleasures wines afford are transitory - but so are those of the ballet, or of a musical performance. Wine is inspiring and adds greatly to the joy of living.
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Soldiers! Forty centuries behold you!
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The Emperor died forsaken by all, on this horrible rock. (St. Helena) His death struggle was awful!
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When your enemy is doing something wrong, do not interrupt him.
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The World is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good.
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Everything is more or less organized matter. To think so is against religion, but I think so just the same.
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Public esteem is the recompense of honest men.
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My downfall raises me to infinite heights.