Quotes by Napoléon Bonaparte
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Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

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

The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.

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

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

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

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

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.

I made all my generals out of mud.

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

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

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

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

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

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

The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.

The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory.

The worse the man the better the soldier. If soldiers be not corrupt they ought to be made so.

An Emperor confides in national soldiers, not in mercenaries.

The purely defensive is doomed to defeat.

Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.

Mankind's worst enemy is fear of work.

I would rather suffer from coffee than be senseless.

Adversity is the midwife of genius.

Once you have made up your mind, stick to it; there is no longer any 'if' or 'but.'

It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory.

The superior man is never in anyone's way.

A resolute determination is the truest wisdom.

Lies circle the earth while Truth is still trying to put on its shoes.

Better to have a known enemy than a forced ally.

In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.

History paints the human heart.

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

Pure politics is merely the calculus of combinations and of chances.

I cannot approve of your method of operation, you proceed like a bewildered idiot, taking not the least notice of my orders.

Circumstances-what are circumstances? I make circumstances.

High politic is only common sense applied to great things.

Conquest has made me what I am, only conquest can maintain me.

The object of war is victory, the object of victory is conquest, and the object of conquest is occupation.

Leaders have to be dealers in hope.

Military despotism represses generous sentiments, priestly tyranny stifles them.

What my enemies call a general peace is my destruction. What I call peace is merely the disarmament of my enemies. Am I not more moderate than they?

My dominion ends where that of conscience begins.

It is exceptional and difficult to find in one man all the qualities necessary for a great general.

Men are never attached to you by favours.

Republican despotism is more fertile in acts of tyranny, because everyone has a hand in it.

The policies of all powers are inherent in their geography.

The Mohammedan religion is the finest of all.

I like honest men of all colors.

Do you know what astonished me the most in this world? The inability of force to create anything.

The inevitable end of multiple chiefs is that they fade and disappear for lack of unity.

War is 90% information.

I am conquered less by fortune than by the egotism and ingratitude of my companions in arms.

Wisdom and policy dictate that we must do as destiny demands and keep peace with the irresistible march of events.

War justifies everything.

Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting.

Music, of all the liberal arts, has the greatest influence over the passions, and it is that to which the legislator ought to give the greatest encouragement.

The logical end to defensive warfare is surrender.

One might as well try to charge through a wall.

Prison, blood, death, create enthusiasts and martyrs, and bring forth courage and desperate resolution.

An aristocracy is the true support of a monarchy.

It is cowardly to commit suicide. The English often kill themselves. It is a malady caused by the humid climate.

Incidents should not govern policy; but, policy incidents.

An army's effectiveness depends on its size, training, experience, and morale, and morale is worth more than any of the other factors combined.

When I was happy I thought I knew men, but it was fated that I should know them in misfortune only.

An order that can be misunderstood, will be misunderstood.

This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride.

Give me enough medals and I'll win you any war.

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

The transition from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most delicate operations in war.

Neglect of duty does not cease, by repetition, to be neglect of duty.

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

In revolution there are only two sorts of men, those who cause them and those who profit by them.

Unite for the public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.

A king is sometimes obliged to commit crimes; but they are the crimes of his position.

Since the discovery of printing, knowledge has been called to power, and power has been used to make knowledge a slave.

In war, as in prostitution, amateurs are often better than professionals.

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

Put a rogue in the limelight and he will act like an honest man.

The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense; he is always satisfied with himself.

A man occupied with public or other important business cannot, and need not, attend to spelling.

Treason is a matter of dates.

Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied.

Men are lead by trifles.

The most insupportable of tyrannies is that of inferiors.

I often asked Laplace what he thought of God. He owned that he was an atheist.

The art of land warfare is an art of genius, of inspiration. On the sea nothing is genius or inspiration; everything is positive or empiric.

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

France is invaded; I am leaving to take command of my troops, and, with God's help and their valor, I hope soon to drive the enemy beyond the frontier.

Revolutions are like the most noxious dungheaps, which bring into life the noblest vegetables.

Put your iron hand in a velvet glove.

Vengeance has no foresight.

I shall be an Attila to Venice.

A society without religion is like a vessel without compass.

Those who have changed the universe have never done it by changing officials, but always by inspiring the people.

Posterity alone rightly judges kings. Posterity alone has the right to accord or withhold honors.

The best medicine against the grapes of wrath is a whiff of grapeshot.

All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rules of art -- by adjusting efforts to obstacles.

The admiral needs only one science, that of navigation. The general needs all the sciences.

The worse the troops the greater the need of artillery.