251 quotes
Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Lead the ideas of your time and they will accompany and support you; fall behind them and they drag you along with them; oppose them and they will overwhelm you.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
The art of war consists in being always able, even with an inferior army, to have stronger forces than the enemy at the point of attack or the point which is attacked.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
To plan to reserve cavalry for the finish of the battle, is to have no conception of the power of combined infantry and cavalry charges, either for attack or for defense.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs. It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds
Sire, I am my own Rudolph of Hapsburg. (Rudolph was the founder of the Hapsburg family).
Peace ought to be the result of a system well considered, founded on the true interests of the different countries, honorable to each, and ought not to be either a capitulation or the result of a threat.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
I generally had to give in.
The religious zeal which animates priests, leads them to undertake labors and to brave perils which would be far beyond the powers of one in secular employment.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
So…Bessieres lived like Bayard; he died like Turenne. We should all be envious of his fate.
I did not usurp the crown. I picked it up from the gutter; the people placed it on my head. I was king of the people as the Bourbons are kings of the nobles
Religions are all founded on miracles — on things we cannot understand, such as the Trinity. Jesus calls himself the Son of God, and yet is descended from David. I prefer the religion of Mahomet — it is less ridiculous than ours.
Mahomet was a great man, an intrepid soldier; with a handful of men he triumphed at the battle of Bender [sic]; a great captain, eloquent, a great man of state, he revived his fatherland and created a new people and a new power in the middle of Arabia.
I am a monarch of God's creation, and you reptiles of the earth dare not oppose me. I render an account of my government to none save God and Jesus Christ.
France will always be a great nation.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
A prince should suspect everything.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
In war, luck is half in everything.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
They seek to destroy the Revolution by attacking my person: I will defend it for I am the Revolution, I myself! Henceforth they will look to it, for they will know of what we are capable.
The Consulate and The Empire (1834)
Man loves the marvelous. It has an irresistible charm for him. He is always ready to leave that with which he is familiar to pursue vain inventions. He lends himself to his own deception.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)