Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

To listen to the interests of all marks an ordinary government; to foresee them marks a great government.

Which is heavier: a soldier's pack or a slave's chains?

To command, you must first of all speak to the eyes.

The logical end to defensive warfare is surrender.

I know he's a good general, but is he lucky?

France will always be a great nation.

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

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.

I do not believe it is in our nature to love impartially. We deceive ourselves when we think we can love two beings, even our own children, equally. There is always a dominant affection.

Do you wish to find out the really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer.

For today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people. With one will. One resolve. One cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death. And we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!

No one but myself can be blamed for my fall. I have been my own greatest enemy-the cause of my own disastrous fate.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

The English have no exaulted sentiments. They can all be bought.

Obedience to public authority ought not to be based either on ignorance or stupidity.

There is only one thing in this world, and that is to keep acquiring money and more money, power and more power. All the rest is meaningless.

There are two merits that glorify a person: being courageous for a man and being virtuous for a woman. Besides these two, there is another merit that glorifies both man and woman: so much loving the homeland to an extent with being ready to sacrifice his/her life, if needed. Turks are such courageous and virtuous people. That is why you can kill a Turk but you can never defeat them.

From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs.

Power is what they like - it is the greatest of all aphrodisiacs.

The great difficulty with politics is, that there are no established principles.

It must be recognized that the real truths of history are hard to discover. Happily, for the most part, they are rather matters of curiosity than of real importance.

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

Promptly improve your accidents.

We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.

Men, in general, are but great children.

True wisdom, in general, consists in energetic determination.

There must be Religion. Otherwise the poor would murder the rich.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

I cannot believe there is a god who punishes and rewards, for I see honest folk unlucky, and rogues unlucky.

It is not necessary to prohibit or encourage oddities of conduct which are not harmful.

He, who practices right, but in the hope of acquiring great renown, is very near to vice.

In tragedy great men are more truly great than in history. We see them only in the crises which unfold them.

Agriculture is the soul and chief support of empires; industry produces riches and the happiness of the people; exportation represents the superabundance, and good use of both.

The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope.

Medicines are only fit for old people.

It is rare that a legislature reasons. It is too quickly impassioned.

Give me enough medals and I’ll win you any war

An army travels on its stomach. Soup makes the soldier.

The most desirable quality in a soldier is constancy in the support of fatigue; valor is only secondary.

He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.

The only conquests that are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves.

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

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

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.

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.

Give me enough ribbons to place on the tunics of my soldiers and I can conquer the world.

An empty throne always tempts me.