“In the career of glory one gains many things; the gout and medals, a pension and rheumatism … And also frozen feet, an arm or leg the less, a bullet lodged between two bones which the surgeon cannot extract … all of these fatigues experienced in your youth, you pay for when you grow old. Because one has suffered in years gone by, it is necessary to suffer more, which does not seem exactly fair.”

Elzear Blaze (1788 to 1848)

Elzear Jean Louis Joseph Blaze was a writer and officer in Napoleon’s Army.