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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.
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Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers.
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A general must be a charlatan.
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As a rule it is circumstances that make men.
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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.
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Every French soldier carriers a marshal's baton in his knapsack.
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A nation recruits men more easily than it can retrieve its honour.
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The purely defensive is doomed to defeat.
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The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests.
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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.
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Laws which are consistent in theory often prove chaotic in practice.
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I love a brave soldier who has undergone the baptism of fire.
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God has given me the will and the force to overcome all obstacles.
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An army must have but one line of operations. This must be maintained with care and abandoned only for major reasons.
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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.
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What a beautiful fix we are in now; peace has been declared.
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Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg.
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In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments.
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In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!
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Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer.
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Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.
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Unhappy the general who comes on the field of battle with a system.
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A beautiful woman like eyes, and a good heart; One is a beautiful thing, and other treasures.
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My dominion ends where that of conscience begins.