“Put your iron hand in a velvet glove.”

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must be free from all preoccupation of interest or vanity.

Success is the most convincing talker in the world.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

Nothing is lost as long as courage remains

It’s the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people.

A woman laughing is a woman conquered.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

One is more certain to influence men, to produce more effect on them, by absurdities than by sensible ideas.

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

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

I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.

A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets.