Talleyrand

"‘There is but one step from triumph to downfall. I have seen, in the most significant of circumstances, that some little thing always decides great events.’ Napoleon to Talleyrand, October 1797"

"‘If he lasts a year, he’ll go far.’ Talleyrand on Napoleon’s consulship"

"‘What a pity the man wasn’t lazy.’ Talleyrand on Napoleon"

"Napoleon wrote to Talleyrand. ‘I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I cede; it is the whole colony, without reserve; I know the price of what I abandon . . . I renounce it with the greatest regret: to attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly.’94"

"Ortega offers an explanation of how such a person can get an enterprise started. In the context of the career of Julius Caesar, an entrepreneur who started without power, Ortega says of the state: Human life, by its very nature, has to be dedicated to something, an enterprise glorious or humble, a destiny illustrious or trivial. . . . The State begins when groups, naturally divided, find themselves obliged to live in common. This obligation is not of brute force, but implies an impelling purpose, a common task which is set before the dispersed groups. Before all, the State is a plan of action and a Programme of Collaboration. The men are called upon so that together they may do something. . . . It is pure dynamism, the will to do something in common, and thanks to this the idea of the State, is bounded by no physical limits. . . . Never has anyone ruled on this earth by basing his rule essentially on any other thing than public opinion. . . . Even the man who attempts to rule with janissaries depends on their opinion and the opinion which the rest of the inhabitants have of them. The truth is that there is no ruling with janissaries. As Talleyrand said to Napoleon, “You can do everything with bayonets, sire, except sit on them!” (The Revolt of the Masses, chapter 14, “Who Rules in the World?”)"