Early Life
Soult was born at Saint-Arnans-la-Bastide (now Saint-Amans-Soult near Castres in the Tarn département), the son of a country notary Jean Soult (1726–1779) and wife Brigitte de Grenier, paternal grandson of Jean Soult (1698–1772) and wife Jeanne de Calvet and maternal grandson of Pierre François de Grenier de Lapierre and wife Marie de Robert.
He was well-educated, and intended to become a lawyer, but his father's death when he was still a boy made it necessary for him to seek his fortune, and he enlisted as a private in the French infantry in 1785.
Read more about this topic: Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult
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“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
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