quotes by Emperor Quotes

“In one way an arrow moves, in another way the mind. The mind indeed, both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.”

“Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too.”

“England would be better off without Canada; it keeps her in a prepared state for war at a great expense and constant irritation.”

“The art of government is not to let me grow stale.”

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.”

“In our time no one has the conception of what is great. It is up to me to show them.”

“A man is not dependent upon his fellow creature, when he does not fear death.”

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.”

“Do you know what is more hard to bear than the reverses of fortune? It is the baseness, the hideous ingratitude, of man.”

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

“Great men are never cruel without necessity.”

“Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.”

“It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds.”

“Victory is not always winning the battle...but rising every time you fall.”

“War is a serious game in which a man risks his reputation, his troops, and his country. A sensible man will search himself to know whether or not he is fitted for the trade.”

“The Jews are the master robbers of the modern age.”

“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much. But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble does a man retire than into his own soul.”

“Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself: Am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?”

“Where the Government is weak, military sway prevails.”

“The whole universe is change and life itself is but what you deem it - either gratefully better than or bitterly worse than something else that you alone choose.”

“You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.”

“A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.”

“Poverty is the mother of crime.”

“All the great captains have performed vast achievements by conforming with the rules of art--by adjusting efforts to obstacles.”

“Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence means tying it to the things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions.”

“Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? Art thou angry with him whose mouth smells foul?”

“The best medicine against the grapes of wrath is a whiff of grapeshot”

“Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?'”

“The word impossible is not French.”

“The substance of the universe is obedient and compliant; and the reason which governs it has in itself no cause for doing evil, for it has no malice, nor does it do evil to anything, nor is anything harmed by it. But all things are made and perfected according to this reason.”

“The fate of a Nation may sometimes depend upon the position of a fortress.”

“He who flies from his master is a runaway; but the law is master, and he who breaks the law is a runaway. And he also who is grieved or angry or afraid, is dissatisfied because something has been or is or shall be of the things which are appointed by Him who rules all things, and He is Law, and assigns to every man what is fit. He then who fears or is grieved or is angry is a runaway.”

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.”

“Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right principles; but when thou bast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest”

“Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.”

“The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.”

“He does not write at all whose poems no man reads”

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

“Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.”

“Unity of command is essential to the economy of time. Warfare in the field was like a siege: by directing all one's force to a single point a breach might be made, and the equilibrium of opposition destroyed.”

“Even while a thing is in the act of coming into existence, some part of it has already ceased to be.”

“Unavailable wars are always just.”

“I have so often been mistaken that I no longer blush for it”

“Opportunities? I make opportunities.”

“It is not set speeches at the moment of battle that render soldiers brave.”

“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.”

“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.”

“An empty throne always tempts me.”

“It is necessary for the heart to feel as for the body to be fed.”

“A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.”