Quotes & Sayings About Bonaparte

You write to me that it's impossible. The word is not French. — Napoleon Bonaparte

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately, for then there is not an instant to be lost. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Youth is terrible: it is a stage trod by children in buskins and a variety of costumes mouthing speeches they've memorized and fanatically believe but only half understand. And history is terrible because it so often ends up a playground for the immature; a playground for the young Nero, a playground for the young Bonaparte, a playground for the easily roused mobs of children whose simulated passions and simplistic poses suddenly metamorphose into a catastrophically real reality. — Milan Kundera

In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them. — Napoleon Bonaparte

But it is at home and not in public that one should wash ones dirty linen.
[Fr., Car c'est en famille, ce n'est pas en public, qu'un lave son linge sale.] — Napoleon Bonaparte

My enemies make appointments at my tomb. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment. — Napoleon Bonaparte

War,
the trade of barbarians! — Napoleon Bonaparte

It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory — Napoleon Bonaparte

It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until nobody cares. — Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no class of people so hard to manage in a state, as those whose intentions are honest, but whose consciences are bewitched. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The art of war is to gain time when your strength is inferior. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Women are nothing but machines for producing children. — Napoleon Bonaparte

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Fashion condemns us to many follies, the greatest is to make oneself its slave. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Public instruction should be the first object of government. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets — Napoleon Bonaparte

Nothing is more arrogant than the weakness which feels itself supported by power. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Good intelligence is nine-tenths of any battle. — Napoleon Bonaparte

In political administration, no problem is ever simple. It can never be reduced to the question whether a certain measure is good or not. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Speeches pass away, but acts remain. — Napoleon Bonaparte

England would be better off without Canada; it keeps her in a prepared state for war at a great expense and constant irritation. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I like honest men of all colors. — Napoleon Bonaparte

He who cannot look over a battlefield with a dry eye, causes the death of many men uselessly. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The law, that is what makes men stay honest. — Napoleon Bonaparte

For my part, it is not the mystery of the incarnation which I discover in religion, but the mystery of social order, which associates with heaven that idea of equality which prevents the rich from destroying the poor — Napoleon Bonaparte

True heroism consists in rising superior to misfortune. — Napoleon Bonaparte

My success and everything good that I have done, I owe to my mother. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind — Napoleon Bonaparte

When your enemy is doing something wrong, do not interrupt him. — Napoleon 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. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Men have their virtues and their vices, their heroisms and their perversities; men are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but possess and practice all that there is of good and bad here below. Such is the general rule. Temperament, education, the accidents of life, are modifying factors. Outside of this, everything is ordered arrangement, everything is chance. Such has been my rule of expectation and it has usually brought me success. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I do not amuse myself by thinking of dead people. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Send me 300 francs; that sum will enable me to go to Paris. There, at least, one can cut a figure and surmount obstacles. Everything tells me I shall succeed. Will you prevent me from doing so for the want of 100 crowns? — Napoleon Bonaparte

To extraordinary circumstance we must apply extraordinary remedies. — Napoleon 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. — Napoleon Bonaparte

To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are ruled by toys. — Napoleon Bonaparte

An army's effectiveness depends on its size, training, experience, and morale, and morale is worth more than any of the other factors combined. — Napoleon Bonaparte

A man is known by his conduct to his wife, to his family, and to those under him. — Napoleon Bonaparte

If you want to get on in this world make many promises, but don't keep them. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The conscience is the sacred haven of the liberty of man. — Napoleon Bonaparte

True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Occupation is the scythe of time. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Great battles are won with artillery. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Without cavalry, battles are without result. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me. — Napoleon Bonaparte

An army of lions commanded by a deer will never be an army of lions. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Moses has revealed the existence of God to his nation. Jesus Christ to the Roman world, Muhammad to the old continent ... — Napoleon Bonaparte

Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The division of labor, which has brought such perfection in mechanical industries, is altogether fatal when applied to productions of the mind. All work of the mind is superior in
proportion as the mind that produces it is universal. — Napoleon Bonaparte

In order that a people may be free, it is necessary that the governed be sages, and those who govern, gods. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Historians are lenient to those who succeed and stern to those who fail; in this, and this alone, they display strong political sense. — J. Christopher Herold

What a solace Christianity must be to one who has an undoubted conviction of its truth! — Napoleon Bonaparte

The public spirit is in the hands of the man who knows how to make use of it. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Sirs, if it were not for that one red spot I would have conquered the world!!! — Napoleon Bonaparte

Men grow old quickly on the battlefield. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Amy wondered if Bonaparte could declare war on Miss Gwen alone without breaking his peace with England — Lauren Willig

After me, the Revolution - or, rather the ideas which formed it - will resume their course. It will be like a book from which the marker is removed, and one starts to read again at the page where one left off. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible. — Napoleon Bonaparte

They are the carrion birds of humanity ... [speaking of the Jews] are a state within a state. They are certainly not real citizens ... The evils of Jews do not stem from individuals but from the fundamental nature of these people. — Napoleon Bonaparte

More glorious to merit a sceptre than to possess one. — Napoleon Bonaparte

A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything. — Napoleon Bonaparte

An aristocracy is the true support of a monarchy. — Napoleon Bonaparte

An army which cannot be regularly recruited is a doomed army. — Napoleon Bonaparte

We are born, we live, we die among supernatural. — Napoleon Bonaparte

We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the liberties of the seas than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind. The object is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth and the resources of other nations. — Thomas Jefferson

A mathematician of the first rank, Laplace quickly revealed himself as only a mediocre administrator; from his first work we saw that we had been deceived. Laplace saw no question from its true point of view; he sought subtleties everywhere; had only doubtful ideas, and finally carried the spirit of the infinitely small into administration. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic ... This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war. — Napoleon Bonaparte

When people cease to complain, they cease to think. — Napoleon Bonaparte

One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The Empress Marie-Louise once asked me if I believed in ghosts.
'I find it hard to believe in something I've never seen,' I told her.
But perhaps ghosts aren't meant to be seen. Perhaps they are meant to be felt. — Michelle Moran

Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily. — Napoleon Bonaparte

No king establishes a kingdom without pouring blood of a nation. — Auliq Ice

Men of genius are meteors destined to burn themselves out in lighting up their age. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I shall be an Attila to Venice. — Napoleon Bonaparte

In Russia there are no roads - only areas. — Napoleon Bonaparte

France is invaded; I am leaving to take command of my troops, and, with God's help and their valor, I hope soon to drive the enemy beyond the frontier. — Napoleon Bonaparte

France has more need of me than I have need of France. — Napoleon Bonaparte

If I were an Englishman, I should esteem the man who advised a war with China to be the greatest living enemy of my country. You would be beaten in the end, and perhaps a revolution in India would follow. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Give me enough medals and I'll win you any war — Napoleon Bonaparte

Sometimes a single battle decides everything and sometimes, too, the slightest circumstance decides the issue of a battle. There is a moment in every battle at which the least manoeuvre is decisive and gives superiority, as one drop of water causes overflow. — Napoleon Bonaparte

I have seen only yoU, I have admired only yoU, I desire only You — Napoleon Bonaparte

How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Clearly, the pleasures wines afford are transitory - but so are those of the ballet, or of a musical performance. Wine is inspiring and adds greatly to the joy of living. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Since the discovery of printing, knowledge has been called to power, and power has been used to make knowledge a slave. — Napoleon Bonaparte

One is more certain to influence men, to produce more effect on them, by absurdities than by sensible ideas. — Napoleon Bonaparte

The three-o'-clock in the morning courage, which Bonaparte thought was the rarest. — Henry David Thoreau

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself. — Napoleon Bonaparte

My generals are a parcel of post inspectors. — Napoleon Bonaparte

Peoples of Egypt , you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion. Do not believe it! Reply that I have come to restore your rights! — Napoleon Bonaparte