"That dependable courage, which in spite of the most sudden circumstances, nevertheless allows freedom of mind, of judgment and of decision, is exceedingly rare."

"War is becoming an anachronism; if we have battled in every part of the continent it was because two opposing social orders were facing each other, the one which dates from 1789, and the old regime. They could not exist together; the younger devoured the other. I know very well, that, in the final reckoning, it was war that overthrew me, me the representative of the French Revolution, and the instrument of its principles. But no matter! The battle was lost for civilization, and civilization will inevitably take its revenge. There are two systems, the past and the future. The present is only a painful transition. Which must triumph? The future, will it not? Yes indeed, the future! That is, intelligence, industry, and peace. The past was brute force, privilege, and ignorance. Each of our victories was a triumph for the ideas of the Revolution. Victories will be won, one of these days, without cannon, and without bayonets."

"It is not that addresses at the opening of a battle make the soldiers brave. The old veterans scarcely hear them, and recruits forget them at the first boom of the cannon. Their usefulness lies in their effect on the course of the campaign, in neutralizing rumors and false reports, in maintaining a good spirit in the camp, and in furnishing matter for camp-fire talk. The printed order of the day should fulfill these different ends."

"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."

"The issue of a battle is the result of an instant, of a thought. There is the advance, with its various combinations, the battle is joined, the struggle goes on a certain time, the decisive moment presents itself, a spark of genius discloses it, and the smallest body of reserves accomplish victory."

"In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything."

"A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command."

"To plan to reserve cavalry for the finish of the battle, is to have no conception of the power of combined infantry and cavalry charges, either for attack or for defense."

"The general of the sea has need of only one science, that of navigation. The one on land has need of all, or of a talent which is the equivalent of all, that will enable him to profit by all experience, and all knowledge. A general of the sea has nothing to divine. He knows where his enemy is, he knows his strength. A general on land never knows anything with certainty, never sees his enemy well, and never knows positively where he is."

"In order not to be astonished at obtaining victories, one ought not to think only of defeats."

"In war, luck is half in everything."

"If I had not been defeated in Acre against Jezzar Pasha of Turk. I would conquer all of the East"

"My most splendid campaign was that of March 20; not a single shot was fired."

"In France, only the impossible is admired."

"The sentiment of national honor is never more than half extinguished in the French. It takes only a spark to re-kindle it."

"France will always be a great nation."

"Turks can be killed, but they can never be conquered."

"Europe is a molehill. It has never had any great empires, like those of the Orient, numbering six hundred million souls."

"Europe has its history, often tragic, though at intervals consoling. But to speak of any universally recognized national rights or that these rights have played any part in its history, is to play with the powers of public credulity. Always the first duty of a state has been its safety; the pledge of its safety, its power; and the limits of its power, that intelligence of which each has been made the depository. When the great powers have proclaimed any other principle, it has been only for their own purposes, and the smaller powers have never received any benefit from it."

"Surely in a matter of this kind we should endeavor to do something, that we may say that we have not lived in vain, that we may leave some impress of ourselves on the sands of time."

"You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks."

"Morality has nothing to do with such a man as I am."

"Waterloo will wipe out the memory of my forty victories; but that which nothing can wipe out is my Civil Code. That will live forever."

"If I were an Englishman, I should esteem the man who advised a war with China to be the greatest living enemy of my country. You would be beaten in the end, and perhaps a revolution in India would follow."

"Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu'un long discours."

"I saw myself founding a religion, marching into Asia riding an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hand the new Koran that I would have composed to suit my needs."

"Ability is nothing without opportunity."

"The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. (La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.)"

"Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain."

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

"I am the instrument of providence, she will use me as long as I accomplish her designs, then she will break me like a glass."

"If I had succeeded, I would have been the greatest man known to history."

"You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led... Do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning? Never. That is only good for the scholar in his study. The soldier needs glory, distinctions, and rewards."

"The future destiny of the child is always the work of his mother. Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons."

"Leave the Artillerymen alone, they are an obstinate lot."

"Tristan is very idle. He confessed to the Emperor that he did not work every day. "Do you not eat every day?" said the Emperor to him; "Yes, Sire." "Well, then, you ought to work every day; no one should eat who does not work." "Oh! if that be the case, I will work every day," said the child, quickly. "Such is the influence of the belly," said the Emperor, tapping that of little Tristan. "It is hunger that makes the world move.""

"There is no subordination with empty stomachs."

"Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man. I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. 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. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable, supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it, which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ."

"‘Do you know,’ Napoleon once said to Fontanes, ‘what fills me most with wonder? The powerlessness of force to establish anything. There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind. In the end, the sword is always conquered by the mind.’"

"Geography is destiny."

"Able was I ere I saw Elba."

"An army of sheep, led by a lion, is better than an army of lions, led by a sheep."

"Give them a whiff of grapeshot."

"A constitution should be short and obscure."

"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

"Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend."

"Every soldier carries a Marshal's baton in his knapsack"