to itself, is intolerant of anybody that does not become either an
appendix or a tool. - The germ of this absorbing personality is
already apparent in the youth and even in the infant.

"Character: dominating, imperious, and stubborn,"

says the record at Brienne.[24] And the notes of the Military
Academy add;[25]

"Extremely inclined to egoism," - "proud, ambitious, aspiring in all
directions, fond of solitude,"

undoubtedly because he is not master in a group of equals and is ill
at ease when he cannot rule.

"I lived apart from my comrades," he says at a later date.[26] - "I
had selected a little corner in the playgrounds, where I used to go
and sit down and indulge my fancies. When my comrades were disposed
to drive me out of this corner I defended it with all my might . My
instinct already told me that my will should prevail against other
wills, and that whatever pleased me ought to belong to me."

Referring to his early years under the paternal roof at Corsica, he
depicts himself as a little mischievous savage, rebelling against
every sort of restraint, and without any conscience.[27] " I respected
nothing and feared nobody; I beat one and scratched another; I made
everybody afraid of me. I beat my brother Joseph; I bit him and
complained of him almost before he knew what he was about." A clever
trick, and one which he was not slow to repeat. His talent for
improvising useful falsehoods is innate; later on, at maturity, he is