"If it had not been for my taciturnity, Talleyrand," he observed,
when in the height of his power, "I should have got it in the neck."
"Got what in the neck?" asked Talleyrand.
"The guillotine," rejoined the Emperor. "It was the freedom of
speech which people of those sanguinary days allowed themselves that
landed many a fine head in the basket. As for me, I simply held my
tongue with both hands, and when I wearied of that I called some one
in to hold it for me. If I had filled the newspapers with
'Interviews with Napoleon Bonaparte,' and articles on 'Where is
France at?' with monographs in the leading reviews every month on
'Why I am what I am,' and all such stuff as that, I'd have condensed
my career into one or two years, and ended by having my head divorced
from my shoulders in a most commonplace fashion. Taciturnity is a
big thing when you know how to work it, and so is proneness to
irritability. The latter keeps you from making friends, and I didn't
want any friends just then. They were luxuries which I couldn't
afford. You have to lend money to friends; you have to give them
dinners and cigars, and send bonbons to their sisters.
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