Babylon and Alexandria are fallen; Semiramis and Alexander stand erect, greater perhaps through the echo of their renown, waxing and multiplying through the ages, than they were in their lifetimes." Then he added, connecting these ideas with himself: "My power depends on my fame and on the battles I win.
Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest alone can sustain me.

A new born government must dazzle, must amaze.

The moment it no longer flames, it dies out; once it ceases to grow, it falls." He was long a Corsican, impatient under the conquest of his country; but after the 13th Vendemiaire he became a true Frenchman, and ended by loving France with true passion.

His dream was to see her great, happy, powerful, at the head of the nations in glory and in art.

It is true that, in making France great, he became great with her, and attached his name indissolubly to her grandeur.