Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

  1. “The human race is governed by its imagination.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  2. “The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  3. “The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  4. “What is history but a fable agreed upon?” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  5. “If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  6. “All religions have been made by men.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  7. “Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  8. “Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  9. “Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  10. “An army marches on its stomach.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  11. “It requires more courage to suffer than to die.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  12. “A leader is a dealer in hope.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  13. “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  14. “Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  15. “One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  16. “A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  17. “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  18. “The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  19. “You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  20. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  21. “Medicines are only fit for old people.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  22. “England is a nation of shopkeepers.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  23. “A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  24. “He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  25. “Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  26. “I made all my generals out of mud.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  27. “Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  28. “When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  29. “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  30. “Imagination rules the world.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  31. “Ability is nothing without opportunity.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  32. “The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  33. “Respect the burden.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  34. “Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  35. “Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  36. “I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  37. “Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  38. “A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  39. “With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  40. “One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  41. “It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  42. “A Constitution should be short and obscure.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  43. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  44. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  45. “A true man hates no one.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  46. “In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  47. “There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  48. “Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  49. “Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  50. “Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  51. “War is the business of barbarians.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  52. “Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  53. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  54. “There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  55. “There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  56. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  57. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  58. “Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  59. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  60. “The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  61. “Women are nothing but machines for producing children.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  62. “The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs to one’s means.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  63. “Let the path be open to talent.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  64. “The army is the true nobility of our country.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  65. “France has more need of me than I have need of France.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  66. “The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  67. “It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  68. “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 principles which direct them.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  69. “Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  70. “Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  71. “There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  72. “History is a set of lies agreed upon.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  73. “A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  74. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  75. “I have only one counsel for you – be master.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  76. “The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  77. “Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  78. “Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  79. “Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  80. “Victory belongs to the most persevering.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  81. “Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  82. “I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  83. “The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  84. “When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  85. “Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  86. “From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  87. “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  88. “A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  89. “If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  90. “Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  91. “You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy’s ranks.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  92. “The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  93. “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.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  94. “To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  95. “We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  96. “In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  97. “If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  98. “The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  99. “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  100. “The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  101. “The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  102. “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
  103. “The French complain of everything, and always.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

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