Napoleon Bonaparte quotes

Born
August  15 ,1769, Ajaccio, Corsica, France.

Died
May 5, 1821.

Occupation
Politician, Military Officer.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars.

There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

What is history but a fable agreed upon?
– Napoleon Bonaparte

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs to one’s means.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Let the path be open to talent.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Victory belongs to the most persevering.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

I made all my generals out of mud.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
– 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

One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
– Napoleon 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.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

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

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

A true man hates no one.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.
– Napoleon 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 principles which direct them.
– Napoleon 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.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

History is a set of lies agreed upon.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

I have only one counsel for you – be master.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
– 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

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

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is a dealer in hope.
– Napoleon 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.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

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

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.
– 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

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

An army marches on its stomach.
– Napoleon 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.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination rules the world.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Respect the burden.
– Napoleon Bonaparte