[PW] Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand -Périgord Quote on Lions and Sheep

[Brian Whatcott]

At 09:09 AM 6/15/2007, you wrote:
>Greetings to the collective wisdom.
>
>I have a quotation found in La Confession de Talleyrand:
>"Je crains plus une armée de cent moutons commandée par un lion, 
>qu'une armée de cent lions commandée par un mouton."
>
>Unfortunately I don't read French. Can some kind soul look and tell me
>whether Talleyrand mentions in the book where he got this maxim from? I've
>been using the translation engines but it looks like he doesn't mention any
>source.
>
>The full text is available in Gutenberg at 
>http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20564
>
>Thanks,
>Slow
>
>PS Alternatively, does anyone have an etymology for fearing an army 
>of sheep commanded by a lion more than an army of lions led by a sheep.

Though one sees this aphorism ascribed to Hindu or Arabic
folk sources, I suspect it would be reasonable to suppose that
Talleyrand took pains to create or at least polish what he
  wrote in his Breviaire.



Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!