General Quotes

“Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.”

“Wherever flowers cannot be reared, there man cannot live.”

“I have doubtless erred more or less in politics, but a crime I never committed.”

“The division of labor, which has brought such perfection in mechanical industries, is altogether fatal when applied to productions of the mind. All work of the mind is superior inproportion as the mind that produces it is universal.”

“There are certain things in war of which the commander alone comprehends the importance. Nothing but his superior firmness and ability can subdue and surmount all difficulties.”

“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.”

“A cowardly act! What do I care about that? You may be sure that I should never fear to commit one if it were to my advantage.”

“Better live a King, than a Prince.”

“Victory is not always winning the battle...but rising every time you fall.”

“One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.”

“The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.”

“How many really capable men are children more than once during the day!”

“Leaders have to be dealers in hope.”

“Reprisals are but a sad resource.”

“A general-in-chief should ask himself several times in the day, What if the enemy were to appear now in my front, or on my right, or my left?”

“The logical end to defensive warfare is surrender.”

“Nothing is more destructive than the charge of artillery on a crowd.”

“I made all my generals out of mud.”

“Europe thus divided into nationalities freely formed and free internally, peace between States would have become easier: the United States of Europe would become a possibility.”

“Power is founded upon opinion.”

“In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.”

“My dominion ends where that of conscience begins.”

“To be believed make the truth unbelievable.”

“The English have no exaulted sentiments. They can all be bought.”

“There is no man more pusillanimous than I when I am planning a campaign. I purposely exaggerate all the dangers and all the calamities that the circumstances make possible. I am in a thoroughly painful state of agitation. This does not keep me from looking quite serene in front of my entourage; I am like an unmarried girl laboring with child. Once I have made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success.”