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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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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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Every French soldier carriers a marshal's baton in his knapsack.
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When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.
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A general must be a charlatan.
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All the women in the world would not make me lose an hour.
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Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law. Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.
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I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me.
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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.
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One might as well try to charge through a wall.
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For the stability of the Government, the people should have a considerable voice in the elections.
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In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power.
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What a beautiful fix we are in now; peace has been declared.
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How many seemingly impossible things have been accomplished by resolute men because they had to do, or die?
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A nation recruits men more easily than it can retrieve its honour.
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Brave deeds are the monuments of brave men.
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The art of war is to gain time when your strength is inferior.
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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.
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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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The most insupportable of tyrannies is that of inferiors.
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When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation.
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Ability is of little account without opportunity. I have very rarely met with two o'clock in the morning courage: I mean instantaneous courage.
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There is no place in a fanatic's head where reason can enter.
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What a solace Christianity must be to one who has an undoubted conviction of its truth!