Quotes
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Charles Talleyrand : They like seeing me as the devil but I shouldn't think that would scare you, because people tell me that you're not afraid of anything.
Napoléon : Of one thing. Stupidity.
Charles Talleyrand : Oh, then you must tremble every day of your life.
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Charles Talleyrand : What about you? Are you interested in political power?
Napoléon : Me? The glory I won in Italy is all I could possibly wish for.
Charles Talleyrand : Yes, of course there's glory, but then there's money too.
Napoléon : On that regard, I was very well paid by the enemy. I have other plans.
Charles Talleyrand : Oh, do tell me. I'll be as silent as the grave.
Napoléon : Mathematics. I became an artilleryman thanks to mathematics. My one dream is to return to my former vocation.
Charles Talleyrand : To mathematics?
Napoléon : Yes. I hope to be elected to the institute in the domain of physical science and mathematics.
Charles Talleyrand : And that's all?
Napoléon : For the moment.
Charles Talleyrand : I see. To your modest ambitions.
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Charles Talleyrand : I've heard grumblings about your proposal for a new constitution. I must say I expected something more revolutionary from you.
Napoléon : I like order. I fought for the republic. I'm not a revolutionary.
Charles Talleyrand : I share your fondness for order, but when you... when you speak of a concentrated government, you don't pretend to mean, concentrated in the hands of one man, do you?
Napoléon : You ask questions that sound like answers.
Charles Talleyrand : Yes, well, because it's always difficult to find someone who would wield that kind of power who would not become a dictator.
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Napoléon : If my brother can't make those people obey him, what good is he to me as the president?
Charles Talleyrand : Sire, he is their president, not their general. Deputies cannot be ordered around as easily as a regiment.
Napoléon : We'll see about that.
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Napoléon : War is not the worst, Talleyrand. The worst would be allowing them to treat France like the village idiot of Europe. The one who is slapped and then says thank you. What do you know about war? You've never been to war.
Charles Talleyrand : Alas. A soldier who can neither attack nor, more especially, flee, in sufficient haste, is a liability. Otherwise I might have pursued a military career.
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Charles Talleyrand : Man was given speech to disguise his thoughts, and words to disguise his eyes. Don't trust anything, or anyone.
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Napoléon : How should I address you? Monsignor, since you were a bishop, Your Excellency because the Revolution made you ambassador to England, or Minister because you are in charge of France's foreign relations?
Charles Talleyrand : Most people call me Talleyrand. Just Talleyrand.
Napoléon : Ah, yes, like just "God"?
Charles Talleyrand : Or Satan.
