"At Toulon, Napoleon, looking out of the batteries, drew back a step to let some one take his place. The next moment the new arrived was killed. That step brought the French Empire, and made possible the bloody roll of its victories and defeats. The rout at Waterloo turned on a shower of rain hindering Grouchy's advance. The resolution of a moment, with some men, has been the turning-point of infinite issues to a world."
More by John Cunningham Geikie
See allResonant Thoughts
"It may remain for us to learn … that our task is only beginning; and that there will never be given to us even the ghost of any help, save the help of unutterable unthinkable Time. We may have to lear…"
"In the ten years I was president of the Teamsters, I had raised the membership from eight hundred thousand to more than 2 million and made it the largest single labor union the world."
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"The atmosphere in years has been, in many parts of the country, poisoned. I do not wish to say anything her…"
— Stanley Baldwin"A painting by Caspar David Friedrich is not a thing of the past. What is past is only the set of circumstan…"
— Gerhard Richter"I see a future for us only in a Great War in which we lastingly cripple an opponent, France or Russia. Unle…"
— Alfred von Waldersee"When one deals with the Murthe, the unthinkable becomes the ordinary, and Zanzel's repute carries no more w…"
— Jack Vance"Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now — always, and indeed then most truly when it seems mo…"
— Albert Schweitzer"You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time.…"
— Ronald Reagan
