Best Talleyrand Quotes & Sayings

Wherever there's trouble, look for a priest. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

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. — James A. Garfield

Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

He who has not lived in the eighteenth century before the Revolution does not know the sweetness of life and can not imagine that there can be happiness in life. This is the century that has shaped all the conquering arms against this elusive adversary called boredom. Love, Poetry, Music, Theatre, Painting, Architecture, Court, Salons, Parks and Gardens, Gastronomy, Letters, Arts, Science, all contributed to the satisfaction of physical appetites, intellectual and even moral refinement of all pleasures, all the elegance and all the pleasures. The existence was so well filled that if the seventeenth century was the Great Age of glories, the eighteenth was that of indigestion. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord

There is one person that is wiser than anybody, and that is everybody. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

It is the beginning of the end.
[Fr., C'est le commencement de al fin.] — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

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. — J. Christopher Herold

If you wish to be popular in society consent to be taught many things you already know. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

You can do anything you like with bayonets, except sit on them. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord

Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Carl von Clausewitz, a nineteenth-century Prussian general and military theorist, had said that war was nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means. Similarly, the famous observation of French politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand that war is much too serious a thing to be left to military men is eternally valid. — T.V. Rajeswar

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. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Only a man who has loved a woman of genius can appreciate what happiness there is in loving a fool. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Yes, but bad language is bound to make in addition bad government, whereas good language is not bound to make bad government. That again is clear Confucius: if the orders aren't clear they can't be carried out. Lloyd George's laws were such a mess, the lawyers never knew what they meant. And Talleyrand proclaimed that they changed the meaning of words between one conference and another. The means of communication breaks down, and that of course is what we are suffering now. We are enduring the drive to work on the subconscious without appealing to the reason. They repeat a trade name with the music a few times, and then repeat the music without it so that the music will give you the name. I think of the assault. We suffer from the use of language to conceal thought and to withhold all vital and direct answers. There is the definite use of propaganda, forensic language, merely to conceal and mislead. — Ezra Pound

Methods are the masters of masters. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord

Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of glory creates a great man. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

If we go on explaining we shall cease to understand one another. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

A clever woman often compromises her husband; a stupid woman only compromises herself. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

A court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

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. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

There are no principles, only events. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord

I know where there is more wisdom than is found in Napoleon, Voltaire, or all the ministers present and to come - in public opinion. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Talleyrand said that two things are essential in life: to give good dinners and to keep on fair terms with women. As the years pass and fires cool, it can become unimportant to stay always on fair terms either with women or one's fellows, but a wide and sensitive appreciation of fine flavours can still abide with us, to warm our hearts. — M.F.K. Fisher

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.] — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts. — Charles Maurice De Talleyrand