Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

When you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna.

The tools belong to the man who can use them.

In war, the moral element and public opinion are half the battle.

The army is the true nobility of our country.

The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, he, faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready to descend from the throne, to quit France, and even to relinquish life, for the good of his country.

A Constitution should be short and obscure.

Life is strewn with so many dangers, and can be the source of so many misfortunes, that death is not the greatest of them.

We may stop ourselves when going up, never when coming down.

Many a one commits a reprehensible action, who is at bottom an honourable man, because man seldom acts upon natural impulse, but from some secret passion of the moment which lies hidden and concealed within the narrowest folds of his heart.

The bayonet has always been the weapon of the brave and the chief tool of victory

The barbarous custom of having men beaten who are suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this way of interrogating men, by putting them to torture, produces nothing worthwhile.

Conquests will come and go but Delambre's work will endure.

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?

The art of the police is not to see what it is useless that it should see.

High politic is only common sense applied to great things.

No amount of money will induce someone to lay down their life, but they will gladly do so for a bit of yellow ribbon.

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

I believe love to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men. I believe, in short, that love does more harm than good.

I make my battle plans from the spirit of my sleeping soldiers

A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people.

If it had not been for the English I should have been emperor of the East, but wherever there is water to float a ship we are sure to find them in our way.

Time is the great art of man.

The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.

I haven't known 6 days of happiness in my life.

Public instruction should be the first object of government.

Cossacks are the best light troops among all that exist. If I had them in my army, I would go through all the world with them.

Unhappy the general who comes on the field of battle with a system.

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

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.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

In war, groping tactics, half-way measures, lose everything.

The Emperor died forsaken by all, on this horrible rock. (St. Helena) His death struggle was awful!

A man like me troubles himself little about a million men.

The practice of law sharpens the mind by making it narrow.

An aristocracy is the true support of a monarchy.

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

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

Give me a man with a good allowance of nose,... when I want any good head-work done I choose a man - provided his education has been suitable - with a long nose.

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

The word impossible is not French.

It is easy to know when a government wishes for peace by observing the character of the person sent to negotiate for it.

He, who practices right, but in the hope of acquiring great renown, is very near to vice.

Great ambition is the passion of a great character.

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

My waking thoughts are all of thee. Your portrait and the remembrance of last night's delirium have robbed my senses of repose. Sweet and incomparable Josephine, what an extraordinary influence you have over my heart. Are you vexed? Do I see you sad? Are you ill at ease? My soul is broken with grief, and there is no rest for your lover.

All the women in the world would not make me lose an hour.

The sovereignty of the people is inalienable.

In war, moral factors acount for three quarters of the whole; relative material strength accounts for only one quarter.

Character is victory organized.

I pay attention only to what people do or say. I never pay attention to what they think.

In order not to be astonished at obtaining victories, one ought not to think only of defeats.

Tis a principle of war that when you can use the lightning, 'tis better than cannon.

The conscience is the sacred haven of the liberty of man.

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I have no time for such nonsense.

If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation

Malice delights to blacken the characters of prominent men.

To have good soldiers, a nation must always be at war.

Nothing is so important in war as an undivided command.

You cannot treat with all the world at once.