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Rh When I plan a battle,' said he to Roederer, 'no man is more pusillanimous than I am. I magnify to myself all the dangers and all the evils that are possible under the circumstances. I am in a state of agitation that is really painful. But this does not prevent me from appearing quite composed to people around me; I am like a woman giving birth to a child.

It is also a necessary part of this system that he should be always looking ahead, and this aspect of his character is also set forth with picturesqueness by himself:

"Passionately, in the throes of creation, he is thus absorbed with his coming greatness; he already anticipates and enjoys living in his imaginary edifice. 'General,' said Madame de Clermont-Tonnerre to him one day, 'you are building behind a scaffolding which you will take down when you have done with it.' 'Yes, madame, that's it,' replied Bonaparte; 'you are right, I'm always living two years in advance.' His response came with 'incredible vivacity,' as if it were the result of a sudden inspiration, that of a soul stirred in its innermost core."

then Taine proceeds to give some notion of all that was contained in this single brain, and, powerful as the summing-up is, it will yet be seen