Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord > Quotes

“Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.”
― Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep”
― Talleyrand

“A diplomat who says “yes” means “maybe", a diplomat who says “maybe" means “no”, and a diplomat who says “no” is no diplomat.”
― Talleyrand

“To be agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you already know.”
― Talleyrand

“There are no principles, only events. ”
― Talleyrand

“They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”
― Talleyrand

“Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts.”
― Charles Maurice De Talleyrand

“Mistrust first impulses , they are nearly always good .”
― Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

“Speech is the faculty by which men conceal their thoughts.”
― Talleyrand

“- We're winning!

- Who is 'we', mon Prince?

- Not a word! I will tell you tomorrow.”
― Talleyrand

“You can do anything you like with bayonets, except sit on them.”
― Talleyrand

“Non-intervention is a metaphysical idea, indistinguishable in practice from intervention.”
― Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

“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-Périgord

“Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not”
― Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

“The art of statemanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.”
― Talleyrand

“Above all, gentlemen, not too much zeal”
― Talleyrand-Perigord-C-M