"It is always the same old story, year after year... the same eager rush to Paris from the provinces; the same, not to say a growing, number of beardless, ambitious boys,... only to finish in some trench where failures lie."
French history: Did Napoleon really say 'who saves his country is above the law'?
Balzac does not cite any source for the quote, although he was in correspondence with Napoleon's niece after the emperor's death, suggesting uncertainty of origin.