The careers of Napoleon and de Gaulle bear comparison, though it is always unwise to take such imposed similarities too far. But n...evertheless, both their careers were born out of social upheaval and military disaster. It is astonishing that Napoleon, a mere youthful artillery officer from despised Corsica, should have pulled together a country reeling from the horrors of revolution; survived the ignominy of defeat in Egypt; created a new France, constitutionally, legally, and organizationally; brought emperors and kings to their knees; allied himself through marriage with one of the proudest European dynasties; fought a series of impeccably planned and devastatingly executed campaigns; had the whole world within his grasp ... and, so very nearly, held it there. It is equally extraordinary that Charles de Gaulle, a brilliant though suspect tank commander, should have snatched from the fall of France a personal triumph. Who else, one wonders, could have continued to assert the position of himself and his country in the face of dislike and mistrust? Who else, like Napoleon returning from Elba, could have emerged from the self-imposed exile of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to restore France's confidence? Both men were seized with the concept of la gloire. Both took that concept to the ultimate.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Police officer: Say chief. This fellow Comante.... Public's interested in him. He's a colorful character. Chief Detective: Co...lorful. What color is a trawling louse? Say listen, that's the attitude of too many morons in this country. They think these big hoodlums are some sort of demagogues. Whad a they do about a guy like Comante, they sentimentalize him. Romance. Make jokes about 'em. They had some excuse for glorifying our old Western badmen. They met in the middle of the street at high noon waiting for each other to draw. But these fiends sneak up, shoot a guy in the back, and then run away. Colorful ... When I think what goes on in the minds of these lice, I wanna vomit.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There was something so free and self-contained about him, something in the young fellow's movements, that made that officer aware ...of him. And this irritated the Prussian. He did not choose to be touched into life by his servant.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had bee...n forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, "Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can" --and walked out of the room.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food i...n summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
[On Harvard President Charles William Eliot's lamentation that the average Harvard graduate had fewer than two children:] That is ...quite enough. Harvard graduates do not always make the best fathers. Why should we be agitated over the too small families of the rich when there are so many children of the poor that are not cared for? The rich should make it their duty to raise up these children to a higher standard.... Men of the world hate to give up their tobacco, liquor, sports, clubs, their luxurious habits, their freedom from responsibility. They prefer to flock together and so women are compelled to do the same. President Eliot talks as though the young women were sitting around anxiously and aimlessly waiting for the graduates to come and get them. He would find, if he should make the proper investigation, that a class of women is being developed who are demanding a higher standard of morals in men than did those of past generations, and if they cannot get husbands who reach this standard they are making very satisfactory careers for themselves outside of marriage.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
So much of the trouble is because I am a woman. To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman. There is one crown which perha...ps is worth it all--a great love, a quiet home, and children. We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and yet we must peg away, showing off our wares on the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven't.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is now time to stop and to ask ourselves the question which my last commanding officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover, asked me and ev...ery other young naval officer who serves or has served in an atomic submarine. For our Nation M for all of us M that question is, "Why not the best?"LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Fathers are still considered the most important "doers" in our culture, and in most families they are that. Girls see them as the ...family authorities on careers, and so fathers' encouragement and counsel is important to them. When fathers don't take their daughters' achievements and plans seriously, girls sometimes have trouble taking themselves seriously.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The duties which a police officer owes to the state are of a most exacting nature. No one is compelled to choose the profession of... a police officer, but having chosen it, everyone is obliged to live up to the standard of its requirements. To join in that high enterprise means the surrender of much individual freedom.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »