Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) quotes

• A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
• A constitution should be short and obscure.
• A leader is a dealer in hope.
• A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
• A man will fight harder for his interestes than for his rights.
• A picture is worth a thousand words.
• 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.
• A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
• A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
• A true man hates no one.
• Ability is nothing without opportunity.
• All religions have been made by men.
• Among those who dislike oppresion are many who like to oppress.
• An army marches on its stomach.
• Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
• Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
• From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
• Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.
• He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.
• History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
• If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
• If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
• Imagination rules the world.
• Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
• In politics stupidity is not a handicap.
• In politics, never retreat, never retract, never admit a mistake.
• It is the cause and not the death that makes the martyr.
• It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
• Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.
• Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.
• Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
• Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
• One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.
• One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.
• Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
• Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.
• Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
• The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.
• The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.
• The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
• The French complain about everything, and always.
• 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.
• The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
• The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
• There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
• Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.
• 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.
• Victory belongs to the most persevering.
• We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
• You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.
• You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.