Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. Profoundly inspirational Napoleon Bonaparte quotes will challenge the way you think, change the way you live and transform your whole life.
Famous Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Victory is not always winning the battle…but rising every time you fall. – Napoleon Bonaparte
If you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and their leader is a lion, all dogs will fight as a lion. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Great men are meteors designed to burn so that earth may be lighted. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay their hands on everything they can get. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. – Napoleon Bonaparte
In politics stupidity is not a handicap. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Imagination rules the world. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Great men grow tired of contentedness. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them. – Napoleon Bonaparte
How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares ‘God wills it thus.’ Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The most dangerous moment comes with victory. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Leave the Artillerymen alone, they are an obstinate lot. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power. – Napoleon Bonaparte
On victory, you deserve beer. On defeat, you need it. – Napoleon Bonaparte
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 Bonaparte
To understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Chess is too difficult to be a game and not serious enough to be a science or an art. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people. – Napoleon Bonaparte
It would be a joke if the conduct of the victor had to be justified to the vanquished. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy’s ranks. – Napoleon Bonaparte
It requires more courage to suffer than to die. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Generals who save troops for the next day are always beaten. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the later than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A true man hates no one. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Opportunities? I make opportunities. – Napoleon Bonaparte
From triumph to downfall there is but one step. I have noted that, in the most momentous occasions, mere nothings have always decided the outcome of the greatest events. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You can not lead a battle if you think you look silly on a horse. – Napoleon Bonaparte
We should always go before our enemies with confidence, otherwise our apparent uneasiness inspires them with greater boldness. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Whatever you ardently and passionately desire, that you obtain. – Napoleon Bonaparte
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. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized, educated nation – Napoleon Bonaparte
Great men are never cruel without necessity. – Napoleon Bonaparte
When people cease to complain, they cease to think. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes. – Napoleon Bonaparte
In war, as in prostitution, amateurs are often better than professionals. – Napoleon Bonaparte
How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness. – Napoleon Bonaparte
God is on the side with the best artillery – Napoleon Bonaparte
There is no place in a fanatic’s head where reason can enter. – Napoleon Bonaparte
An order that can be misunderstood, will be misunderstood. – Napoleon Bonaparte
No one but myself can be blamed for my fall. I have been my own greatest enemy-the cause of my own disastrous fate. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The reason most people fail instead of succeed is they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Envy is a declaration of inferiority. – Napoleon Bonaparte
If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Six hours’ sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The purpose of religion is to keep the poor from killing the rich. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Until you spread your wings, you’ll have no idea how far you can fly. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The best way to make every one poor is to insist on equality of wealth. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The art of war is to gain time when your strength is inferior. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You don’t reason with intellectuals. You shoot them. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense; he is always satisfied with himself. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Moses has revealed the existence of God to his nation. Jesus Christ to the Roman world, Muhammad to the old continent. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The world soffers a lot. Not because the violence of bad people. But because of the silence of the good people. – Napoleon Bonaparte
War is ninety percent information. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The stupid speak of the past, the wise of the present, and fools of the future. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You become strong by defying defeat and by turning loss into gain and failure to success. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A woman laughing is a woman conquered. – Napoleon Bonaparte
It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until nobody cares. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The strong are good, only the weak are wicked. – Napoleon Bonaparte
After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune, the man of genius always gets back on his feet. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The best way to keep one’s word is not to give it. – Napoleon Bonaparte
You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them – Napoleon Bonaparte
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind. – Napoleon Bonaparte
There are only two forces that unite men – fear and interest. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight. – Napoleon Bonaparte
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself. – Napoleon Bonaparte
What is history but a fable agreed upon? – Napoleon Bonaparte
One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I made all my generals out of mud. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. – Napoleon Bonaparte
History is a set of lies agreed upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte
There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes. – Napoleon Bonaparte
In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one’s designs to one’s means. – Napoleon Bonaparte
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. – Napoleon Bonaparte
There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies. – Napoleon Bonaparte
With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A throne is only a bench covered with velvet. – Napoleon Bonaparte
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. – Napoleon Bonaparte
He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Women are nothing but machines for producing children. – Napoleon Bonaparte
When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I have only one counsel for you – be master. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague. – Napoleon Bonaparte
If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets. – Napoleon Bonaparte
In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage. – Napoleon Bonaparte
One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The human race is governed by its imagination. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows. – Napoleon Bonaparte
He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich. – Napoleon Bonaparte
I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories. – Napoleon Bonaparte
If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god. – Napoleon Bonaparte
When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals. – Napoleon Bonaparte
A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it. – Napoleon Bonaparte
France has more need of me than I have need of France. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The army is the true nobility of our country. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains. – Napoleon Bonaparte
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. – Napoleon Bonaparte
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest. – Napoleon Bonaparte
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. – Napoleon Bonaparte
We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult. – Napoleon Bonaparte
What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck; I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The only conquests which are permanent and leave no regrets are our conquests over ourselves. – Napoleon Bonaparte
The only who is wiser than anyone is everyone. – Napoleon Bonaparte
When you can use the lightning it is better than cannon – Napoleon Bonaparte
There are two kinds of fidelity – that of dogs and that of cats; and you gentlemen, have the fidelity of cats who never leave the house – Napoleon Bonaparte
There are times when a battle decides everything, and there are times when the most insignificant thing can decide the outcome of a battle – Napoleon Bonaparte
Since the people eats every day, it should be allowed to work every day – Napoleon Bonaparte
Mon cher, you are a simpleton. You really don’t understand a thing. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Men of genius are meteors intended to burn to light their century. – Napoleon Bonaparte
Music of all the arts has the most influence on the passions and the legislator should give it the greatest encouragement. – Napoleon Bonaparte
