Quotes About Authority

In this life, we are either kings or pawns, Emperors or fools

I love power like a musician loves music.

I did not usurp the crown; it was in the gutter and I picked it out.

You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them

C'est avec des hochets que l'on mène les hommes." Napoléon Bonaparte à propos de la légion d'honneur, qu'il institua en 1802.

I have closed the gaping abyss of anarchy, and I have unscrambled chaos, I have cleansed the Revolution, ennobled the common people, and restored the authority of kings. I have stirred all men to competition, I have rewarded merit wherever I found it, I have pushed back the boundaries of greatness.

L'ambition de dominer sur les esprits est la plus forte de toutes les passions.

I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.

Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.

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

Posterity alone rightly judges kings. Posterity alone has the right to accord or withhold honors.

A prince should suspect everything.

A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command.

Go, sir, gallop, and don't forget that the world was made in six days. You can ask me for anything you like, except time.

What is the throne?—a bit of wood gilded and covered with velvet. I am the state—I alone am here the representative of the people. Even if I had done wrong you should not have reproached me in public—people wash their dirty linen at home. France has more need of me than I of France.

One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.

Chief of the Army.

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

Do you know what amazes me more than anything else? The impotence of force to organize anything.

My enemies are many, my equals are none. In the shade of olive trees, they said Italy could never be conquered. In the land of Pharaohs and Kings, they said Egypt could never be humbled. In the realm of forest and snow, they said Russia could never be tamed. Now they say nothing. They fear me, like a force of nature, a dealer in thunder and death! I say: I am Napoleon, I am Emperor. (Napoleon: Total War)

There are two levers for moving men interest and fear.

Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.

I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay hands on everything they can get.