"But let that impatiently awaited savior give a sudden sign of his existence, and the people's instinct
will divine him and call upon him. The obstacles are smoothed before his steps,
and a whole great
nation, flying to see him pess, will seem to be saying: "Here is the man....A consecutive
series
of
great actions never is the result of chance and luck, it is always the product of planning
and genius
.
Great men are rarely known to fail in their most perilous enterprises.... Is it because they are lucky
that they become great? No, but being great, they have been able to master luck."
-Napoleon Bonaparte, from The Mind of Napoleon
21. What can you infer about Napoleon from the information in this passage?