“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.”

“Conquests will come and go but Delambre's work will endure.”

“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.”

“In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.”

“You wish to sail a ship up stream by lighting a fire under its decks, I have no time for such nonsense.”

“You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.”

“Lead the ideas of your time and they will accompany and support you; fall behind them and they drag you along with them; oppose them and they will overwhelm you.”