I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.

Men have their virtues and their vices, their heroisms and their perversities; men are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but possess and practice all that there is of good and bad here below. Such is the general rule. Temperament, education, the accidents of life, are modifying factors. Outside of this, everything is ordered arrangement, everything is chance. Such has been my rule of expectation and it has usually brought me success.

Without cavalry, battles are without result.

An army which cannot be reenforced is already defeated.

If we could read the past histories of all our enemies we would disregard all hostility for them.

The fate of war is to be exalted in the morning, and low enough at night! There is but one step from triumph to ruin.

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