“The public spirit is in the hands of the man who knows how to make use of it.”
“Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers.”
“Laws which are consistent in theory often prove chaotic in practice.”
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”
“There are two kinds of fidelity, that of dogs and that of cats; you, gentleman, have the fidelity of cats who never leave the house.”
“To imagine that it is possible to perform great military deeds without fighting is just empty dreams.”
“Large legislative bodies resolve themselves into coteries, and coteries into jealousies.”
“Whatever you ardently and passionately desire, that you obtain.”
“What I have done up to this is nothing. I am only at the beginning of the course I must run. Do you imagine that I triumph in Italy in order to aggrandise the pack of lawyers who form the Directory, and men like Carnot and Barras? What an idea!”
“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
“Great men grow tired of contentedness.”
“We should always go before our enemies with confidence, otherwise our apparent uneasiness inspires them with greater boldness.”
“The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.”
“In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.”
“In tragedy great men are more truly great than in history. We see them only in the crises which unfold them.”
“Generals are not to be too scrupulous.”
“Un croquis vaut mieux qu”
“The Jews are the master robbers of the modern age.”
“Every means should be taken to attach the soldier to his colours.”
“There are two levers for moving men - interest and fear.”
“We are nothing but by the law.”
“Champagne! In victory, one deserves it; in defeat one needs it.”
“The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other. They are worse than ever when, at the termination of their punishment, they return to society.”
“Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.”
“Lack is more in means, than in principles.”
