NAPOLEON BONAPARTE FAMOUS

Discover the most famous quotes and proverbs ofNapoléon BONAPARTE, first emperor of the French, a great conqueror and strategist,.

In war, boldness is the most beautiful calculation of genius.
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 If my hat knew my plan, I'd eat it.

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 At my first battle, a ball and chain or the stars...

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 Jesus Christ! How stupid are men of letters!

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 It is success that makes great men.

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 It is not as a general that I govern, but because the Nation believes that I have the civil qualities of government.

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 This unfortunate war in Spain was a real plague, the primary cause of France's misfortunes.

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 Nowadays, no one has concluded anything big, it is up to me to set an example.

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 In politics, absurdity is not an obstacle.

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 There are two levers to move a man, fear and self-interest.

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 You should always reserve the right to laugh the day after your previous day's ideas.

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 I know men and I tell you that Jesus was not a man. Superficial minds have made the connection between some founders of the empire and with the gods of other countries. This reconciliation does not exist.

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 I win my battles with my soldiers' dreams.

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 I've never made any conquests except by defending myself. Europe has never stopped fighting France because of its principles. I was forced to shoot or risk being shot.

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 I did not succeed Louis XVI, but Charlemagne.

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 I have only one passion, only one mistress: it's France! I sleep with her... If I need 500,000 men, she gives them to me!

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 I do not hold the crown of my fathers but the will of the nation that gave it to me.

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 I know when it's time to leave the lion's skin and take the fox's.

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 I want a farmer's son to be able to say to himself: "I will one day be a cardinal, a Marshal of France or a minister".

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 The art of being sometimes very bold and sometimes very careful is the art of success.

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 The Gospel has a secret virtue, I don't know what effective and warm that acts on the understanding and charms the heart. The Gospel is not a book: it is a living being.

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 Man does business and authority does not see people; he only sees things, their weight and consequences.

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 The war was in my hands the antidote to anarchy.

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 Death is nothing, but to live defeated and without glory is to die every day.

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 The cannon killed feudalism; the ink will kill modern society.

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 I love power as an artist.

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 Time is man's great art.

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 Great men are never cruel without necessity.

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 Men of genius are meteors destined to burn to light up their century.

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 Men are neither generally good nor generally bad, but they possess and exercise all that is good and bad here on earth.

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 The men who changed the universe never succeeded in doing so by winning leaders; but always by stirring masses.

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 Men are like numbers, they only acquire value through their position.

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 The first qualities of the soldier are constancy and discipline, value is only the second...

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 My power holds my glory and glory in the victories I have won. My power would fall if I did not give it glory and new victories as a basis yet. The conquest has made me what I am, the conquest alone can keep me going.

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 No red heels, no red caps, I'm national.

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 Men are governed better by their vices than by their virtues.

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 You can stop when you go up, never when you go down.

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 We can govern from afar, but we only administer well up close.

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 Why am I not allowed to cry?

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Almost never does man act by natural act of his character, but by a secret passion of the moment, refugee, hidden in the last folds of the heart.
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When China wakes up, the world will tremble.
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When we want we can, when we can we must.
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If you like to study men, learn how far patience can go, and all that can be devoured.
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A man, truly a man, does not hate; his anger and bad temper do not go beyond the minute.
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A higher power is pushing me to a goal I don't know. Until it is reached, I will be invulnerable, unshakeable. As soon as I'm no longer needed, one fly will be enough to knock me down.
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What is history, if not a fable that everyone agrees on?
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In love, the only victory is the escape.
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We call them rattles, well, it's with rattles that we lead the world!
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My true glory is not that I won forty battles; Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories; what nothing will erase, what will live forever, is my Civil Code.

My true glory is not that I won forty battles; Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories; what nothing will erase, what will live forever, is my Civil Code.
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It is not possible; it is not French.

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True courage is that of three in the morning.
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Whoever does not have the courage to endure adversity is not a man.
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Courage is like love, he wants hope for food.
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With boldness, we can do anything, we can't do everything.
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Caution is more dangerous than boldness.
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You can't find fearless people in those who have to lose.
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It takes courage to fight against strength, it takes a few times more to admit weakness.
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Common sense makes men capable.
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High politics is only common sense applied to great things.
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From mind to common sense, there is more to it than we think.
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We write too much: I would like fewer books, and more common sense.
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A drowning man clings to all the branches.
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A little bit often decided the biggest events.
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The circumstances? What are the circumstances? I follow the circumstances.
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True character almost always breaks through in great circumstances.
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In revolutions, there are two kinds of people: those who make them and those who benefit from them.
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Happiness is about events, happiness is about affections.
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Indecision is to the government what paralysis is to members.
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Nothing is more important and therefore more valuable than knowing how to make decisions.
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Take time to deliberate, but when it's time to take action, stop thinking and go!
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Feelings are the eyes of the soul.
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Inconsistency is often the mark of a great power of passions.
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The fool has a great advantage over the man of spirit: he is always happy with himself.
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We have written great nonsense about the soul; we must try to know, not what men have said about this matter, but what our reason can discover us regardless of their opinion.
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The most surprising inventions are not those whose human spirit can boast, it is a mechanical instinct and chance that we owe most of the discoveries, and not at all to philosophy.
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There is nothing more compelling than weakness that feels supported by strength.
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I know when it's time to leave the lion's skin and take the fox's.
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A revolution is one of the greatest evils from which the sky can afflict the earth.
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The great art is to change during battle. Woe to the general who arrives in battle with a system.
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Strength, when you can't do otherwise, but when you are master, justice is better.
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The habit of the most violent facts wears out the heart less than abstractions: the military is better than lawyers.
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There are only two powers in the world, the sword and the spirit. By spirit I mean civil and religious institutions. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit.
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The police are just ragged diplomacy.
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Counterbalanced governments are only good in times of peace.
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Taxes are only money lent; they come from the people, they have to go back to the people.
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The real wealth of the states consists in the number of inhabitants, their work and their industry.
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The fall of prejudice has exposed the source of power, kings can no longer dispense with being skilled.
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Imagination leads the world.
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I win my battles with my soldiers' dreams.
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People think I think I think fast. Error! Error! I think before.
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You should always reserve the right to laugh the day after your previous day's ideas. (War maxims and thoughts)
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When you know the purpose for which you have to walk, with a little thought, the means come easily.
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A good sketch is better than a long speech.
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We all get men by appealing to their honor.
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There are two levers for moving a man; fear and self-interest.
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Know how to listen, and be sure that silence often has the same effect as science.
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The art of governing is not to let men age in their positions.
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There is only one secret to leading the world, it is to be strong, because there is no error or illusion in strength; it is the true one, exposed
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The story is a series of lies we agree on.
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A curious book would be one in which no lies would be found.
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It is easier to quote than to imitate.
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Most of our academics are authors who are admired by yawning.
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We want young people to study war in books, it's a good way to get bad generals.
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Clear laws in theory are often chaos in application.
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It is easier to make laws than to enforce them.
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We must do justice to those who deserve it.
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Men must be led by the straps they have today, not by the ones they once had.
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The legislator's secret must be to take advantage even of the failings of those he claims to govern.
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We don't make republics out of old monarchies.
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A sovereign must never bend or soften.
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The nobility would have survived if it had taken more care of the branches than the roots.
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A throne and its poisons, as soon as you sit there you feel its contagion.
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The old recreated monarchies last only as long as the people do not feel their strength; such buildings always perish by the foundations.
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The right policy is to make people believe that they are free.
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Man is only a more perfect animal than others and a better reasoning animal.
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Everything becomes easy when you follow the opinion.
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The incorrigible rabble shows the same spirit of insanity everywhere.
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The people are the same everywhere. When you gild your irons, he doesn't hate servitude.
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The word "political virtue" is nonsense.
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Diplomacy is the police in a big suit.
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Love of the homeland is the first virtue of civilized man.
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The people are led only by showing them a future; a leader is a merchant of hope.
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Never interrupt an enemy who is making a mistake.
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Oligarchies never change their minds, their interests are always the same!
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The commonplace of controversy has gone out of fashion, it has given way to the commonplace of politics.
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You don't become an atheist by wish.
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The church must be in the state, not the state in the church.
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A society without religion is like a ship without a compass.
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Morality is a conjectural art, like anthology. This is what characterizes a superior intelligence.
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To ask to what extent religion is necessary for political power is to ask to what extent a hydropic can be punctured; it all depends on the doctor's caution.
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From sublime to ridiculous, there is only one step.
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Doubt is the enemy of big business.
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Success follows the great man.
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Winning is nothing, you have to enjoy success.
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Nothing increases battalions like success.
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It is success that makes great men, there is no more eloquent than success.
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What I am looking for above all is greatness: what is great is always beautiful.
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Towards success, it is the first step that costs.
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The esteem of his contemporaries is much more real than the admiration of posterity.
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Chess is too difficult to be a game, and not serious enough to be a science or an art.
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A child's future is the work of his mother.
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Tragedy warms the soul, lifts the heart, can and must create heroes.
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Men of genius are meteors destined to burn to light up their century.
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True heroism is about being superior to the evils of life.
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Whoever practices virtue only in the hope of fame is close to vice.
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There are people who are only virtuous because they lack the opportunities for vice.
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He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander.
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Severity prevents more mistakes than it represses.
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The best way to keep your word is never to give it.
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Freedom alone is the only way to tell the truth.
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It is always vile and dishonourable to slander the one who is unhappy.
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Chance is the only legitimate king in the universe.
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When you dive to the bottom of the voluptuous delights, you bring back more gravel than pearls.
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We must get used to seeing without surprise and without envy what is above us, and without contempt what is below us.