Quotes By Napoleon Bonaparte

Forethought we may have, undoubtedly, but not foresight.

It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.

I know men, and I tell you, Jesus is more than a man. Comparison is impossible between Him and any other human being who ever lived, because He was the Son of God.

A beautiful woman like eyes, and a good heart; One is a beautiful thing, and other treasures.

Public opinion is a mysterious and invisible power, to which everything must yield. There is nothing more fickle, more vague, or more powerful; yet capricious as it is, it is nevertheless much more often true, reasonable, and just, than we imagine.

There is no man more pusillanimous than I when I am planning a campaign. I purposely exaggerate all the dangers and all the calamities that the circumstances make possible. I am in a thoroughly painful state of agitation. This does not keep me from looking quite serene in front of my entourage; I am like an unmarried girl laboring with child. Once I have made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success.

Washington is dead! This great man fought against Tyranny; he established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as it will be to all free men of the two worlds; and especially to French soldiers, who, like him and the American soldiers, have combated for liberty and equality.

In war, three-quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter.

Bloodletting is among the ingredients of political medicine.

Our credulity is a part of the imperfection of our natures. It is inherent in us to desire to generalize, when we ought, on the contrary, to guard ourselves very carefully from this tendency.

My enemies make appointments at my tomb.

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.

The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.

All systems of morality are fine. The gospel alone has exhibited a complete assemblage of the principles of morality, divested of all absurdity. It is not composed, like your creed, of a few common-place sentences put into bad verse. Do you wish to see that which is really sublime? Repeat the Lord's Prayer.

Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.

Nothing is so important in war as an undivided command.

If the Earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.

The keys of a fortress are always well worth the retirement of the garrison when it is resolved to yield only on those conditions. On this principle it is always wiser to grant an honorable capitulation to a garrison which has made a vigorous resistance than to risk an assault.

The bed has become a place of luxury to me! I would not exchange it for all the thrones in the world.

Even when I am gone, I shall remain in people's minds the star of their rights, my name will be the war cry of their efforts, the motto of their hopes.