Quotes from Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

Vengeance has no foresight.

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

The army is the true nobility of our country.

It is easy to know when a government wishes for peace by observing the character of the person sent to negotiate for it.

A king is sometimes obliged to commit crimes; but they are the crimes of his position.

Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze.

The word impossible is not French.

Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.

One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.

I am the instrument of providence, she will use me as long as I accomplish her designs, then she will break me like a glass.

Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.

The hand that gives is above the hand that takes.

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

I saw myself founding a religion, marching into Asia riding an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hand the new Koran that I would have composed to suit my needs.

Nothing is so contrary to military rules as to make the strength of your army known, either in the orders of the day, in proclamations, or in the newspapers.

The secret of great battles consists in knowing how to deploy and concentrate at the right time.

Changing from the defensive to the offensive, is one of the most delicate operations in war.

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.

Man loves the marvelous. It has an irresistible charm for him. He is always ready to leave that with which he is familiar to pursue vain inventions. He lends himself to his own deception.

You cannot drag a man's conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth.

Men of genius are meteors destined to burn themselves out in lighting up their age.

Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting.

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