Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.”

“I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.”

“All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before one single word — faith.”

“Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.”

“The best cure for the body is a quiet mind”

“The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.”

“Once you have made up your mind, stick to it; there is no longer any ‘if’ or ‘but’.”

“There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind”

“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”

“The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided.”

“Envy is a declaration of inferiority”

“Fashion condemns us to many follies, the greatest is to make oneself its slave.”

“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

“Vengeance has no foresight.”

“One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves; one must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.”

“A man is known by his conduct to his wife, to his family, and to those under him.”

“Imagination rules the world.”

“I base my calculation on the expectation that luck will be against me.”

“Circumstances—what are circumstances? I make circumstances”

“Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen.”

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.”

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

“I have seen in the most significant of circumstances, that some little thing always decides great events.”

“Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry.”

“I see only my objective - the obstacles must give way.”

“There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.”

“My mind is a chest of drawers. When I wish to deal with a subject, I shut all the drawers but the one in which the subject is to be found. When I am wearied, I shut all the drawers and go to sleep.”

“Space we can recover; time never.”

“A leader has the right to be beaten, but never the right to be surprised.”

“When a man is a favorite of Fortune she never takes him unawares, and, however astonishing her favors may be, she finds him ready.”

“The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory”

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

“It requires more courage to suffer than to die.”

“Adversity is the midwife of genius”

“He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.”

“Better to have an open enemy, than hidden friends.”

“As to moral courage, I have very rarely met with the two o’clock in the morning kind. I mean unprepared courage, that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion, and which, in spite of the most unforeseen events, leaves full freedom of judgement and decision.”

“An order that can be misunderstood, will be misunderstood.”

“A good sketch is better than a long speech.”

“There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men. To have lived without glory, without leaving a trace of existence, is not to have lived at all.”

“Ability is nothing without opportunity.”

“Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.”

“The art of choosing men is not nearly so difficult as the art of enabling those chosen to attain their full worth.”

“Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me and accepted all my views, were those who did me the most injury.”