19 March 1814 · Napoleon, on St Helena (reported)
“A thunderbolt alone could have saved us”
“A thunderbolt alone could have saved us: to treat, to conclude, was to yield foolishly to the enemy.”
Context
Looking back from exile on the failed negotiations at Châtillon, Napoleon defended his refusal of the Allied terms. Bourrienne quotes him to show that the Emperor’s fall "arose out of his character", rather than out of bad advice from the people around him.
Source: L. A. F. de Bourrienne, Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, ed. R. W. Phipps, vol. 12 (1891 edition). Public domain. Bourrienne was Napoleon’s former secretary. He was not with the army in 1814, so his anecdotes are second-hand.
People
Related: Congress of Châtillon opens · Congress of Châtillon breaks up