Napoleon Quotes

A King should sacrifice the best affections of his heart for the good of his country; no sacrifice should be above his determination.

Obedience to public authority ought not to be based either on ignorance or stupidity.

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 have closed the gaping abyss of anarchy, and I have unscrambled chaos, I have cleansed the Revolution, ennobled the common people, and restored the authority of kings. I have stirred all men to competition, I have rewarded merit wherever I found it, I have pushed back the boundaries of greatness.

The division of labor, which has brought such perfection in mechanical industries, is altogether fatal when applied to productions of the mind. All work of the mind is superior in proportion as the mind that produces it is universal.

The moment of greatest peril is the moment of victory.

Hay ladrones a los que no se castiga, pero que roban lo más preciado: el tiempo.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

A good sketch is better than a long speech.

Two of my Marshalls are racing to get under their orders the Italian troops; i leave it to Suchet who has better ambitions than Macdonald. The Italians will soon be recognized again as the first soldiers of Europe. I'm very proud of my brave Italian army.

For my part, it is not the mystery of the incarnation which I discover in religion, but the mystery of social order, which associates with heaven that idea of equality which prevents the rich from destroying the poor. [Incorrect translation, should be prevents the rich from being massacred by the poor.] Religion is indeed a kind of vaccine innoculation, which, by satisfying our natural love for the marvellous, keeps us out of the hands of charlatans and conjurors. The priests are better than the Cagliostros, the Kants, and all the visionaries of Germany.

There is no such thing as an absolute despotism; it is only relative. A man cannot wholly free himself from obligation to his fellows. A sultan who cut off heads from caprice, would quickly lose his own in the same way. Excesses tend to check themselves by reason of their own violence. What the ocean gains in one place it loses in another.

A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command.

As a rule it is circumstances that make men.

Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.