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Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.
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A society without religion is like a vessel without compass.
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My dominion ends where that of conscience begins.
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I love a brave soldier who has undergone the baptism of fire.
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The poor man commands respect; the beggar must always excite anger.
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The true policy of government is to make use of aristocracy, but under the forms and in the spirit of democracy.
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Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
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People take England on trust, and repeat that Shakespeare is the greatest of all authors. I have read him: there is nothing that compares Racine or Corneille: his plays are unreadable, pitiful.
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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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The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests.
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Every French soldier carriers a marshal's baton in his knapsack.
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There is no Nation however small which had the right to set itself free, that has not rescued itself from the dishonour of obeying the Prince imposed by an enemy in the hour of victory.
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In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments.
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Of all the peoples of Europe, Spaniards disgust me the least.
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In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them.
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There is no strength without justice.
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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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In order that a people may be free, it is necessary that the governed be sages, and those who govern, gods.
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I wish I could take a raincheck on June 18.1815
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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?
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History is written by the winners.
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In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!
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Those who have changed the universe have never done it by changing officials, but always by inspiring the people.
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From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs.