“He was as great as a man can be without morality.”

— Alexis De Tocqueville

Said of Napoleon (1842), "Discours de réception a L'Académie Française prononcé le 21 Avril 1842" Oeuvres complètes, vol. IX, p. 17 http://books.google.com/books?id=kIsdAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA17&dq=%22Il+%C3%A9tait+aussi+grand+qu%E2%80%99un+homme+puisse+l%E2%80%99%C3%AAtre+sans+la+vertu%22
Original text :
Il était aussi grand qu'un homme puisse l'être sans la vertu.
1840s

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Alexis De Tocqueville 135

French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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