“Take courage, be ahead of your age, enlarge your imaginations, see far into the distance, and you will realize that the great men whom you believe to be violent, cruel, and what not are merely politic.”
“Remember that a man, a true man, never hates.”
“All the various workings of his mind were instantaneously depicted in his countenance; and his glance changed from mild to severe, and from angry to good-humoured, almost with the rapidity of lightning. It may truly be said that he had a particular look for every thought that arose in his mind.”
This seems to be characteristic of genius.
“‘a most gracious smile illuminated his countenance when he was cheered by good humour, or by the wish to be agreeable’....Madame de Rémusat praises his smile and Molé said ‘he never saw a smile more amiable, or at least more distinguished, more refined, than that of Napoleon and that of Chateaubriand. But neither the one nor the other smiled every day.’”
This special smile is characteristic not only of Napoleon and Chateaubriand but of genius in general.
The combination of intellect and character is important not only in military matters, but in many other areas of life, too.
http://www.ljhammond.com/notebook/nap.htm
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