Quotes by
Napoleon |
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821 , French Emperor
French general, first consul (1799–1804), and emperor of the French (1804–1814/15), one of the greatest commanders in history and one of the most celebrated personages of the West.
He rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815, in Waterloo.
| 106 quotes | 52,052 visits |
Quotations
| • | Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend. 65 |
| • | History is written by the winners. 46 |
| • | In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. 35 |
| • | A woman laughing is a woman conquered. 33 |
| • | Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. 24 |
| • | If you want a thing done well, do it yourself. 23 |
| • | Women are nothing but machines for producing children. 23 |
| • | You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them. 21 |
| • | The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense: he is always satisfied with himself. 20 |
| • | Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. 15 |
| • | The surest way to remain poor is to be honest. 15 |
| • | In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake. 14 |
| • | Jesus Christ was the greatest republican. 14 |
| • | I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword. 13 |
| • | The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment. 13 |
| • | Ability is nothing without opportunity. 12 |
| • | To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune. 12 |
| • | China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world. 11 |
| • | Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength. 11 |
| • | Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily. 11 |
| • | Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. 11 |
| • | To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty. 11 |
| • | It requires more courage to suffer than to die. 10 |
| • | The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies. 10 |
| • | A leader is a dealer in hope. 9 |
| • | Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress. 9 |
| • | He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat. 9 |
| • | If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing. 9 |
| • | The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast. 9 |
| • | There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the mind. 9 |
| • | Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest. 9 |
| • | A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets. 8 |
| • | Aristocracy is the spirit of the Old Testament, democracy of the New. 8 |
| • | Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues. 8 |
| • | A king is sometimes obliged to commit crimes; but they are the crimes of his position. 7 |
| • | Destiny urges me to a goal of which I am ignorant. Until that goal is attained I am invulnerable, unassailable. When Destiny has accomplished her purpose in me, a fly may suffice to destroy me. 7 |
| • | Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. 7 |
| • | He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander. 7 |
| • | 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. 7 |
| • | Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied. 7 |
| • | One must indeed be ignorant of the methods of genius to suppose that it allows itself to be cramped by forms. Forms are for mediocrity, and it is fortunate that mediocrity can act only according to routine. Ability takes its flight unhindered. 7 |
| • | Six hours' sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool. 7 |
| • | Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night. 7 |
| • | A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command. 6 |
| • | A true man hates no one. 6 |
| • | As a rule, it is circumstances that make men. 6 |
| • | Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. 6 |
| • | I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay hands on everything they can get. 6 |
| • | I know he's a good general, but is he lucky? 6 |
| • | If I had succeeded, I would have been the greatest man known to history. 6 |
| • | It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr. 6 |
| • | The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory. 6 |
| • | There are so many laws that no one is safe from hanging. 6 |
| • | Turks can be killed, but they can never be conquered. 6 |
| • | War is the business of barbarians. 6 |
| • | On s'engage et puis on voit. We encage and then we see. (in battle) 5 |
| • | A book in which there were no lies would be a curiosity. 5 |
| • | A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. 5 |
| • | A throne is only a bench covered with velvet. 5 |
| • | An army marches on its stomach. 5 |
| • | Changing from the defensive to the offensive, is one of the most delicate operations in war. 5 |
| • | Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy. 5 |
| • | Only give them history books. Men should read nothing else. 5 |
| • | Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. 5 |
| • | Simpletons talk of the past, wise men of the present, and fools of the future. 5 |
| • | Soldiers, from the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us. (after victory in Egypt) 5 |
| • | The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances. 5 |
| • | The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. 5 |
| • | The military principles of Caesar were those of Hannibal, and those of Hannibal were those of Alexander: to hold his forces in hand, not to be vulnerable at any point, to throw all his forces with rapidity on any given point. 5 |
| • | Variety made the Revolution. Liberty was just a pretext. 5 |
| • | War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts. 5 |
| • | Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy. 5 |
| • | An army which cannot be reinforced is already defeated. 4 |
| • | Europe is a molehill. It has never had any great empires, like those of the Orient, numbering six hundred million souls. 4 |
| • | I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest. 4 |
| • | If I were to give liberty to the press, my power could not last three days. 4 |
| • | Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen. 4 |
| • | In Love, victory goes to the man who runs away. 4 |
| • | In politics, an absurdity is not an impediment. 4 |
| • | In war, one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it. 4 |
| • | In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything. 4 |
| • | Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in. 4 |
| • | The art of war consists in being always able, even with an inferior army, to have stronger forces than the enemy at the point of attack or the point which is attacked. 4 |
| • | The most desirable quality in a soldier is constancy in the support of fatigue; valor is only secondary. 4 |
| • | What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon. 4 |
| • | You don't govern men who don't have religion, you shoot them. 4 |
| • | A constitution should be framed so as not to impede the action of government, nor force the government to its violation. 3 |
| • | A general must be a charlatan. 3 |
| • | A prince should suspect everything. 3 |
| • | Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance. 3 |
| • | England is a nation of shopkeepers. 3 |
| • | Greatness is nothing unless it be lasting. 3 |
| • | In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. 3 |
| • | And yet, what a novel my life has been! Quel roman pourtant que ma vie! 3 |
| • | From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step. 2 |
| • | I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne. 2 |
| • | In war, character and opinion make more than half of the reality. 2 |
| • | It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found. 2 |
| • | Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers. 2 |
| • | Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people. 2 |
| • | Success is the most convincing talker in the world. 2 |
| • | The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences. 2 |
| • | The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time. 2 |
| • | Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others. 2 |
| • | In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments 2 |
Stupid Quotes
| • | You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense. (rejecting the idea of a steamboat) 2 |
