There is no place in a fanatic's head where reason can enter.

Do you know what astonished me the most in this world? The inability of force to create anything.

No one but myself can be blamed for my fall. I have been my own greatest enemy-the cause of my own disastrous fate.

The advance and perfecting of mathematics are closely joined to the prosperity of the nation.

Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.

If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation

There is no such thing as an accident, only a failure to recognise the hand of fate