Napoléon

Introduction

Napoléon Bonaparte was one of the most brutal and egotistical bastards in history. However he was remarkably candid and insightful into human frailty. Here are some of his quotations. The list as a whole is copyrighted, but of course the individual quotations are not.

Bushisms: Quotations from George W. Bush, mostly idiotic.
Roedy’s Favourite Quotations.
Quotations About Religion. Quotations from Mahatma Gandhi.
Quotations from Roedy Green.
Quotations about Patriotism.

“Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“God fights on the side with the best artillery.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Religion is what keeps the poor man from murdering the rich.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs to one’s means.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A Constitution should be short and obscure.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A true man hates no one.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Ability is nothing without opportunity.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“An army marches on its stomach.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Courage is like love; it must have hope to nourish it.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“England is a nation of shopkeepers.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Every soldier carries a marshall’s baton in his pack.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“I have only one counsel for you — be master.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“I made all my generals out of mud.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius where reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If you start to take Vienna — take Vienna.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Imagination rules the world.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“It requires more courage to suffer than to die.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Let the path be open to talent.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Medicines are only fit for old people.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Men take only their needs into consideration — never their abilities.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Music of all the arts has the most influence on the passions and the legislator should give it the greatest encouragement.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Respect the burden.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The French complain of everything, and always.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The human race is governed by its imagination.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“There are only two forces that unite men — fear and interest.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“There are two levers for moving men — interest and fear.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Vanity made the [French] Revolution; liberty was only a pretext.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Water, air, and cleanliness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“What is history but a fable agreed upon?”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“When I want any, good head work done; I always choose a man, if possible with a long nose.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“Women are nothing but machines for producing children.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy’s ranks.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

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