Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

Rascality has limits; stupidity has not.

I have seen only yoU, I have admired only yoU, I desire only You

My star was fading, I felt the reins slipping out of my grasp, and could do nothing to stop it.

Half of the people in the world are below average.

Imagination rules the world.

Mankind are in the end always governed by superiority of intellectual faculties, and none are more sensible of this than the military profession. When, on my return from Italy, I assumed the dress of the Institute, and associated with men of science, I knew what I was doing: I was sure of not being misunderstood by the lowest drummer boy in the army.

Never depend on the multitude, full of instability and whims; always take precautions against it.

Without cavalry, battles are without result.

Being in the Tuileries is not everything: what matters is to stay here.

A nation recruits men more easily than it can retrieve its honour.

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

We are nothing but by the law.

The Concordat is not the victory of any one party but the consolidation of all.

It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

I have so often been mistaken that I no longer blush for it

I don't employ Talleyrand when I want a thing done, but only when I want to have the appearance of wanting to do it.

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.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them.

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

In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.

In war it is not men, but the man who counts.

The first quality of the commander-in-chief is a cool head to receive a correct impression of things. He should not allow himself to be confused by either good or bad news.

I haven't known 6 days of happiness in my life.

An aristocracy is the true support of a monarchy.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.

Generals are not to be too scrupulous.

Man loves the marvelous. It has an irresistible charm for him. He is always ready to leave that with which he is familiar to pursue vain inventions. He lends himself to his own deception.

I pay attention only to what people do or say. I never pay attention to what they think.

We are born, we live, we die among supernatural.

You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.

The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

I believe love to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men. I believe, in short, that love does more harm than good.

Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.

Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied.

Go Sir, gallop and don't forget that the world was made in six days. You can ask me for anything but not time.

On victory, you deserve beer. On defeat, you need it.

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

Champagne! In victory, one deserves it; in defeat one needs it.

The leader's role is to define reality, then give hope

Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

God has decreed that there be sick and poor in this world, but in the next it will be the other way around.