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HOW TO GET STRONG
NAPOLEON (1769–1821)
Dr. Lord says: "No general so great has appeared in our modern times. He ranks with Alexander and Cæsar, or any of the great warriors that have figured in the great wars of Europe from Charlemagne to Waterloo. He aimed at nothing less than universal sovereignty; and had he not, when intoxicated with his contests, attempted impossibilities, his power would have been practically unlimited in France. He had all the qualities for success in war—insight; fertility of resource; rapidity of movement; power of combination; coolness; intrepidity; audacity; boldness tempered by calculation; will; energy which was never relaxed; powers of endurance; and all the qualities which call out enthusiasm, and attach soldiers and followers to personal interests. He was a military prodigy, equally great in tactics and strategy; a master of all the improvements that had been made in the art of war. His genius for civil administration was equally remarkable, and is universally admitted. He brought order out of confusion; developed the industry of his country; restored the finances; appropriated and rewarded all eminent talents; made the whole machinery of government subservient to his aims; and even seemed to animate it by his individual will. If he had always been in a private station, his intellectual force would have attracted attention in almost any vocation he might have selected. He stands out in history in a marked manner with two sides, great and little; good and bad. No one can deny him many good qualities. His industry was marvellous. He was temperate in eating and drinking; he wasted no precious time."—Beacon Lights of History.
Emerson says of him: "He said, once in all battles a moment occurs when the bravest troops, after having made the greatest efforts, feel inclined to run. That terror proceeds from a want of confidence in their own courage; and it only requires a slight opportunity, a pretence, to restore confidence to them. Two armies meet, and endeavor to frighten each other; the moment a panic occurs, that moment must be turned to advantage. When a man has been present in many actions, he distinguishes that moment without difficulty; it is as easy as casting up an addition. Never was a leader so endowed and so weaponed. Never leader found such aids and followers. He was an experiment, under the most favorable conditions of the powers of intellect, without conscience.
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