Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars.
He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, and as Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815.
Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured to this day, and he stands as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in world history.
Here is a collection of Napoleon Bonaparte most inspiring quotes: Napoleon Bonaparte quotes about success, reading, thinking, history, life, love, happiness and woman. Napoleon Bonaparte quotes on leadership, deciding, power, politics, stupidity and freedom. Quotes and sayings on war, strategy, enemies, courage, strength and time by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes and Sayings
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.
History is a set of lies agreed upon.
In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.
History is written by the winners.
Imagination governs the world.
Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.
The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.
If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
Conquests will come and go but Delambre's work will endure.
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.
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
A woman laughing is a woman conquered.
The world suffers a lot. Not because the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of the good people.
You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them.
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
Men are Moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.
It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr.
China is a sleeping giant; let him sleep, for if he wakes, he will shake the World.
Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.
The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.
As for me, to love you alone, to make you happy, to do nothing which would contradict your wishes, this is my destiny and the meaning of my life.
Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.
Circumstances-what are circumstances? I make circumstances.
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.
Never tell your enemy he is doing the wrong thing.
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
The surest way to remain poor is to be honest.
Music is what tell us that the human race is greater than we realize.
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.
To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
Great men are meteors designed to burn so that earth may be lighted.
Courage is like love, it must have hope for nourishment.
A true man hates no one.
It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.
The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.
If we could read the past histories of all our enemies we would disregard all hostility for them.
Put your iron hand in a velvet glove.
The only victory over love is flight.
I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.
A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
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.
If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
I have seen only you, I have admired only you, I desire only you.
There is a joy in danger.
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.
I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay hands on everything they can get.
Impossible is the word found only in a fool's dictionary. Wise people create opportunities for themselves and make everything possible.
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
An army marches on its stomach.
I start out by believing the worst.
Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.
Success is the most convincing talker in the world.
Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.
A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets.
What is the government? Nothing, unless supported by opinion.
Give me enough medals and I'll win you any war.
If the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds... I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.
I know he's a good general, but is he lucky?
One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves; one must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.
War is the business of barbarians.
There are so many laws that no one is safe from hanging.
Nothing is lost as long as courage remains.
Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must be free from all preoccupation of interest or vanity.
Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.
When you have an enemy in your power, deprive him of the means of ever injuring you.
I make my battle plans from the spirit of my sleeping soldiers
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
Of all the peoples of Europe, Spaniards disgust me the least.
To have a right estimate of a man's character, we must see him in misfortune.
We frustrate many designs against us by pretending not to see them.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.
Women are nothing but machines for producing children.
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.
Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.
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.
In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.
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.
Victory is not always winning the battle... but rising every time you fall.
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.
It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until nobody cares.
He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
if you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. BUT if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a lion, all dogs will fight like a lion.
Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can fly.
The best way to make everyone poor is to insist on equality of wealth.
Once you have made up your mind, stick to it; there is no longer any 'if' or 'but'.
You become strong by defying defeat and by turning loss into gain and failure to success.
Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies.
I see only my objective - the obstacles must give way.
Envy is a declaration of inferiority.
The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense; he is always satisfied with himself.
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.
Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.
Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen.
Men of great ambition have sought happiness... and have found fame.
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