"He was, in truth, a finished specimen of the homme politique. He aspired to govern not empires, but rulers; and such being his profession, it is not strange that vices and even crimes were imputed to him by those who lacked his knowledge and humour. But if he disdained to answer his accusers, he never ceased to believe in the loftiness of his patriotism and the grandeur of his policy. ‘Animated by the most devoted love of France,’ thus he wrote at the end of his career, ‘I have always served her conscientiously, and sought for her honestly that which I honestly believed to be most advantageous for her.’"
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Heads of governmentPrime Ministers of FrancePeople from ParisPoliticians from FranceAmbassadors of France
Original Language: English
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Sources
Charles Whibley, Political Portraits (1917), p. 174
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand-P%C3%A9rigord
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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
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