Napoleon Quotes

My son should often read and meditate on history; it is the only real philosophy

History is a myth men want to believe.

If I had succeeded, I would have been the greatest man known to history.

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.

In war, luck is half in everything.

The future destiny of the child is always the work of his mother. Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.

Je n'ai point usurpé la couronne: je l'ai relevée dans le ruisseau. Le peuple l'a mise sur ma tête. Je voulais que le titre de Français fut le plus beau, le plus désirable de la terre. J'étais enfin le roi du peuple, comme les Bourbons sont les rois des nobles

I am not satisfied with the order which is kept in Madrid; Belliard is too weak; with the Spaniards it is necessary to be severe. I have arrested here fifteen of the worst characters, and I have ordered them to be shot. Arrest thirty at Madrid... If you treat the mob with kindness, these creatures fancy themselves invulnerable; if you hang a few, they get tired of the game, and become as submissive and humble as they ought to be.

I have seen in the most significant of circumstances, that some little thing always decides great events.

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

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

Whatever misanthropists may say, ingrates and the perverse are exceptions in the human species.

In war, character and opinion make more than half of the reality.

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.

Only give them history books. Men should read nothing else.