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 | 61,543 visits |
Quotations
| • | Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend. 67 |
| • | History is written by the winners. 48 |
| • | In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. 37 |
| • | A woman laughing is a woman conquered. 35 |
| • | Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. 27 |
| • | Women are nothing but machines for producing children. 24 |
| • | If you want a thing done well, do it yourself. 24 |
| • | You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them. 22 |
| • | The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense: he is always satisfied with himself. 21 |
| • | The surest way to remain poor is to be honest. 16 |
| • | Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. 16 |
| • | Jesus Christ was the greatest republican. 15 |
| • | In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake. 15 |
| • | To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune. 14 |
| • | The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment. 14 |
| • | I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword. 14 |
| • | Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. 13 |
| • | Ability is nothing without opportunity. 13 |
| • | To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty. 12 |
| • | Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily. 12 |
| • | Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength. 12 |
| • | China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world. 12 |
| • | The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies. 11 |
| • | It requires more courage to suffer than to die. 11 |
| • | Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest. 10 |
| • | 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. 10 |
| • | The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast. 10 |
| • | If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing. 10 |
| • | He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat. 10 |
| • | Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress. 10 |
| • | A leader is a dealer in hope. 10 |
| • | Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues. 9 |
| • | Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied. 9 |
| • | Aristocracy is the spirit of the Old Testament, democracy of the New. 9 |
| • | A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets. 9 |
| • | Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night. 8 |
| • | Six hours' sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool. 8 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander. 8 |
| • | Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. 8 |
| • | 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. 8 |
| • | A king is sometimes obliged to commit crimes; but they are the crimes of his position. 8 |
| • | War is the business of barbarians. 7 |
| • | Turks can be killed, but they can never be conquered. 7 |
| • | There are so many laws that no one is safe from hanging. 7 |
| • | The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory. 7 |
| • | It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr. 7 |
| • | If I had succeeded, I would have been the greatest man known to history. 7 |
| • | I know he's a good general, but is he lucky? 7 |
| • | Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. 7 |
| • | As a rule, it is circumstances that make men. 7 |
| • | An army marches on its stomach. 7 |
| • | A true man hates no one. 7 |
| • | A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command. 7 |
| • | On s'engage et puis on voit. We encage and then we see. (in battle) 6 |
| • | You don't govern men who don't have religion, you shoot them. 6 |
| • | Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy. 6 |
| • | War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts. 6 |
| • | Variety made the Revolution. Liberty was just a pretext. 6 |
| • | 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. 6 |
| • | The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. 6 |
| • | The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances. 6 |
| • | Soldiers, from the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us. (after victory in Egypt) 6 |
| • | Simpletons talk of the past, wise men of the present, and fools of the future. 6 |
| • | Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. 6 |
| • | Only give them history books. Men should read nothing else. 6 |
| • | Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy. 6 |
| • | Changing from the defensive to the offensive, is one of the most delicate operations in war. 6 |
| • | A throne is only a bench covered with velvet. 6 |
| • | A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. 6 |
| • | A book in which there were no lies would be a curiosity. 6 |
| • | What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon. 5 |
| • | The most desirable quality in a soldier is constancy in the support of fatigue; valor is only secondary. 5 |
| • | 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. 5 |
| • | Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in. 5 |
| • | In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything. 5 |
| • | In war, one must lean on an obstacle in order to overcome it. 5 |
| • | In politics, an absurdity is not an impediment. 5 |
| • | In Love, victory goes to the man who runs away. 5 |
| • | Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen. 5 |
| • | If I were to give liberty to the press, my power could not last three days. 5 |
| • | I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest. 5 |
| • | Europe is a molehill. It has never had any great empires, like those of the Orient, numbering six hundred million souls. 5 |
| • | An army which cannot be reinforced is already defeated. 5 |
| • | And yet, what a novel my life has been! Quel roman pourtant que ma vie! 4 |
| • | In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. 4 |
| • | Greatness is nothing unless it be lasting. 4 |
| • | England is a nation of shopkeepers. 4 |
| • | Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance. 4 |
| • | A prince should suspect everything. 4 |
| • | A general must be a charlatan. 4 |
| • | A constitution should be framed so as not to impede the action of government, nor force the government to its violation. 4 |
| • | In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments 3 |
| • | Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others. 3 |
| • | The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time. 3 |
| • | The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences. 3 |
| • | Success is the most convincing talker in the world. 3 |
| • | Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people. 3 |
| • | 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. 3 |
| • | It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found. 3 |
| • | In war, character and opinion make more than half of the reality. 3 |
| • | I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne. 3 |
| • | From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step. 3 |
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) 4 |
