But this multitude of information and observations form only the
smallest portion of the mental population swarming in this immense
brain; for, on his idea of the real, germinate and swarm his concepts
of the possible; without these concepts there would be no way to
handle and transform things, and that he did handle and transform them
we all know. Before acting, he has decided on his plan, and if this
plan is adopted, it is one among several others,[70] after examining,
comparing, and giving it the preference; he has accordingly thought
over all the others. Behind each combination adopted by him we detect
those he has rejected; there are dozens of them behind each of his
decisions, each maneuver effected, each treaty signed, each decree
promulgated, each order issued, and I venture to say, behind almost
every improvised action or word spoken. For calculation enters into
everything he does, even into his apparent expansiveness, also into
his outbursts when in earnest; if he gives way to these, it is on
purpose, foreseeing the effect, with a view to intimidate or to
dazzle. He turns everything in others as well as in himself to
account - his passion, his vehemence, his weaknesses, his
talkativeness, he exploits it all for the advancement of the edifice
he is constructing.[71] Certainly among his diverse faculties, however
great, that of the constructive imagination is the most powerful. At
the very beginning we feel its heat and boiling intensity beneath the
coolness and rigidity of his technical and positive instructions.

"When I plan a battle," said he to Roederer, "no man is more spineless
than I am. I over exaggerate to myself all the dangers and all the
evils that are possible under the circumstances. I am in a state of
truly painful agitation. But this does not prevent me from appearing
quite composed to people around me ; I am like a woman giving birth to