Quote collection
864 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
"There is only one favorable moment in war; talent consists in knowing how to seize it."
"A people that is able to say everything, becomes able to do everything. The crowd which follows me with admiration, would run with the same eagerness were I marching to the Guillotine."
"The object of war is victory, the object of victory is conquest, and the object of conquest is occupation."
"It's the people who are in the wrong who get angry."
"A commander in chief ought to say to himself several times a day: If the enemy should appear on my front, on my right, on my left, what would I do? And if the question finds him uncertain, he is not well placed, he is not as he should be, and he should remedy it."
"In war the simplest manoeuvres are the best."
"It is neither holy, Roman or an empire."
"It is necessary for the heart to feel as for the body to be fed."
"A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle."
"I start out by believing the worst"
"At the head of an army, nothing is more becoming than simplicity."
"The practice of law sharpens the mind by making it narrow."
"Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space."
"Men grow old quickly on the battlefield."
"Where the Government is weak, military sway prevails."
"God! How men of letters are stupid."
"Men will risk their lives, even die for ribbons."
"It is the success which makes great men."
"Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views, and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury, and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except myself, to injure me."