1815 Quotes

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

It had been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life. (Waterloo 18 June 1815)

'I hope to God,' he said one day,'that I have fought my last battle.It is a bad thing to be always fighting.While in the thick of it,I am much too occupied to feel anything;but it is wretched just after.It is quite impossible to think of glory.Both mind and feeling are exhausted.I am wretched even at the moment of victory,and I always say that next to a battle lost, the greatest misery is a battle gained.Not only do you lose those dear friends with whom you have been living,but you are forced to leave the wounded behind you.To be sure one tries to do the best for them,but how little that is!At such moments every feeling in your breast is deadened.I am now just beginning to retain my natural spirits,but I never wish for any more fighting. ~ Arthur Wellesley

Mass prosperity came with the mass innovation that sprung up in 1815 in Britain, soon after in America, and later in Germany and France: It brought sustained growth to these nations - also to nations with entrepreneurs willing and able to copy the innovations. ~ Edmund Phelps

Another result of the War of 1812 was the loss of part of our history. As historian Bruce Johansen put it, "A century of learning [from Native Americans] was coming to a close. A century and more of forgetting--of calling history into service to rationalize conquest--was beginning." After 1815 American Indians could no longer play what sociologists call the role of conflict partner--an important other who must be taken into account--so Americans forgot that Natives had ever been significant in our history. Even terminology changed: until 1815 the word Americans had generally been used to refer to Native Americans; after 1815 it meant European Americans. ~ James W. Loewen

The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was the week the Sgt. Pepper album was released ... At the time I happened to be driving across country on Interstate 80. In each city where I stopped for gas or food - Laramie, Ogallala, Moline, South Bend - the melodies wafted in from some far-off transistor radio or portable hi-fi. It was the most amazing thing I've ever heard. For a brief while the irreparable fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young. ~ Langdon Winner

I saw Derzhavin only once in my life but shall never forget that occasion. It was in 1815 at a public examination in the Lyceum. When we boys learned Derzhavin was coming, all of us grew excited. Delvig went out on the stairs to wait for him and kiss his hand, the hand that had written 'The Waterfall.' Derzhavin arrived. Derzhavin entered the vestibule, and Delvig heard him ask the janitor: 'Where is the privy here, my good fellow?' This prosaic question disenchanted Delvig, who canceled his intent and returned to the reception hall. Delvig told me the story with wonderful bonhomie and good humor. ~ Alexander Pushkin

Let those who are actually concerned with peace observe that capitalism gave mankind the longest period of peace in history - a period during which there were no wars involving the entire civilized world - from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. ~ Ayn Rand

I wish I could take a raincheck on June 18.1815 ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Do you understand what I'm offering you?"
"Do you understand that it's not 1815?"
"It's not unusual for Masters to have Consorts."
"Yes, and your current Consort's in my kitchen right now. If you need ... relieving, talk to her."
"As much as it pains me to say it, Amber isn't you."
"I don't even know what that means. Should I - What? Be flattered that while you don't like me, you're willing to sacrifice just to get into my pants? ~ Chloe Neill

In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D - He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D - since 1806. ~ Victor Hugo

October, 1815, he was released; he had entered there in 1796, for having broken a pane of glass and taken a loaf of bread. Room ~ Victor Hugo

True heroism consists of being superior to the ills of life, in whatever shape they may challenge to the combat.' Napoleon on board HMS Northumberland, 1815 ~ Andrew Roberts