“Quel roman pourtant que ma vie!”

“Qu'est ce que l'histoire, sinon une fable sur laquelle tout le monde est d'accord.”

“Es gibt keine andere Unsterblichkeit als die Erinnerung, die man im Geiste der Menschen zurücklässt.”

“Women Knit”

“What is a throne? — a bit of wood gilded and covered in velvet. I am the state— I alone am here the representative of the people. Even if I had done wrong you should not have reproached me in public—people wash their dirty linen at home. France has more need of me than I of France.”

“My maxim was, la carrière est ouverte aux talents, without distinction of birth or fortune.”

“All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.”