The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible.

Do you know what is more hard to bear than the reverses of fortune? It is the baseness, the hideous ingratitude, of man.

A great reputation is a great noise, the more there is of it, and the further does it swell. Land, monuments, Nations, all fall, but the noise remains, and will reach to other generations.

Leaders have to be dealers in hope.

The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences.

In war one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it.

To listen to the interests of all marks an ordinary government; to foresee them marks a great government.