Top 64 Talleyrand's Quotes
#1. A provisional government was appointed on April 1 (it consisted mainly of Talleyrand's whist partners), and the following day the Senate, on Talleyrand's urging, declared Napoleon deposed.
#2. In a novel, the author gives the leading character intelligence and distinction. Fate goes to less trouble: mediocrities play a part in great events simply from happening to be there.
#3. Suave molecules of Mocha stir up your blood, without causing excess heat; the organ of thought receives from it a feeling of sympathy; work becomes easier and you will sit down without distress to your principal repast which will restore your body and afford you a calm, delicious night.
#4. Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of glory creates a great man.
#5. Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France.
#6. Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred.
#7. God gave humans language so they could conceal their thoughts from one another.
#8. Those who have not lived in the eighteenth century, in the years before the Revolution do not know the sweetness of living and cannot imagine what it was like to have happiness in life.
#9. It is not an event; it is a piece of news.
#10. A diplomat who says "yes" means "maybe", a diplomat who says "maybe" means "no", and a diplomat who says "no" is no diplomat.
#11. Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.
#12. The bold defiance of a woman is the certain sign of her shame, - when she has once ceased to blush, it is because she has too much to blush for.
#13. In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.
#14. She is such a good friend that she would throw all her acquaintances into the water for the pleasure of fishing them out again.
#15. What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.
#16. A court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.
#17. An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public.
#18. There are no principles, only events.
#19. Mistrust first impulses; they are nearly always good.
#20. Only a man who has loved a woman of genius can appreciate what happiness there is in loving a fool.
#21. Beauty, devoid of grace, is a mere hook without the bait.
#22. You can do anything you like with bayonets, except sit on them.
#23. Talleyrand once said to the first Napoleon that the United States is a giant without bones. Since that time our gristle has been rapidly hardening.
#24. A clever woman often compromises her husband; a stupid woman only compromises herself.
#25. A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered.
#26. I don't employ Talleyrand when I want a thing done, but only when I want to have the appearance of wanting to do it.
#27. There is one person that is wiser than anybody, and that is everybody.
#28. The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.
#29. They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.
#30. Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.
#31. The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows.
#32. Never speak ill of yourself, your friends will always say enough on that subject.
#33. Men like M. de Talleyrand are like sharp instruments with which it is dangerous to play.
#34. War is much too serious a thing to be left to military men.
#35. To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man.
#36. Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime.
#37. Since the masses are always eager to believe something, for their benefit nothing is so easy to arrange as facts.
#38. I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.
#39. Those who did not live during the years close to 1789 do not know the pleasure of living.
#40. It is the beginning of the end.
[Fr., C'est le commencement de al fin.]
#41. Speech is the faculty by which men conceal their thoughts.
#42. Merit, however inconsiderable, should be sought for and rewarded. Methods are the master of masters.
#43. The rich man despises those who flatter him too much, and hates those who do not flatter him at all.
#44. Non-intervention is a metaphysical idea, indistinguishable in practice from intervention.
#45. Show me another pleasure like dinner which comes every day and lasts an hour.
#46. There are many people who have the gift, or failing, of never understanding themselves. I have been unlucky enough, or perhaps fortunate enough to have received the opposite gift.
#47. Methods are the masters of masters.
#48. Wherever there's trouble, look for a priest.
#49. Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows.
#50. To be agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you already know.
#51. I found there a country with thirty-two religions and only one sauce.
#52. If we go on explaining we shall cease to understand one another.
#53. Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means.
[Fr., Qui n'a pas vecu dans les annees voisines de 1789 ne sait pas ce que c'est le palisir de vivre.]
#54. Love is a reality which is born in the fairy region of romance.
#55. Nothing succeeds so well as success.
#56. A married man with a family will do anything for money.
#57. What clever man has ever needed to commit a crime? Crime is the last resort of political half-wits.
#58. If you wish to be popular in society consent to be taught many things you already know.
#59. I know where there is more wisdom than is found in Napoleon, Voltaire, or all the ministers present and to come - in public opinion.
#60. The art of putting the right men in the right places is first in the science of government; but that of finding places for the discontented is the most difficult.
#61. Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts.
#62. - We're winning!
- Who is 'we', mon Prince?
- Not a word! I will tell you tomorrow.
#63. Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not.
#64. Women sometimes forgive a man who forces the opportunity, but never a man who misses ones.
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