counterbalance

the first quality of a general in chief is to have a cool head which receives exact impressions of things, which never gets heated, which never allows itself to be dazzled or intoxicated by good or bad news. the successive simultaneous sensations which he receives in the course of a day must be classified, and must occupy the correct places they merit to fill, because common sense and reason are the results of the comparison of a number of sensations each equally well considered. there are certain men who, on acccount of their moral and physical constitution, paint mental pictures out of everything; however exalted be their reason, their will, their courage and whatever good qualities they may possess, nature has not fitted them to command armies, nor to direct great operations of war.

Napoleon bonaparte, 1769-1821