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

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

Let the path be open to talent.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

I have only one counsel for you - be master.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

England is a nation of shopkeepers.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

War is the business of barbarians.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

— Napoleon Bonaparte

War is the business of barbarians.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is a dealer in hope.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

All religions have been made by men.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— 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

A leader is a dealer in hope.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

— 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

The human race is governed by its imagination.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination rules the world.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The human race is governed by its imagination.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Victory belongs to the most persevering.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

— 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

Women are nothing but machines for producing children.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— 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

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

— 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

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination rules the world.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Respect the burden.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— 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

It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— 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

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

History is a set of lies agreed upon.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is a dealer in hope.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.

— 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

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 truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

— 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

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— 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

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The French complain of everything, and always.

— 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

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

— 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

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A true man hates no one.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

— 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

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

An army marches on its stomach.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.

— 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

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

All religions have been made by men.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A Constitution should be short and obscure.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The army is the true nobility of our country.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The human race is governed by its imagination.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

I made all my generals out of mud.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

France has more need of me than I have need of France.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Medicines are only fit for old people.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.

— 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

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

— Napoleon Bonaparte

Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.

— Napoleon Bonaparte

A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.

— Napoleon Bonaparte