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Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

20 quotes from Napoleon Bonaparte — French military leader who conquered most of Europe..

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“My enemies are many, my equals are none.”

Conflict

“God fights on the side with a better artillery.”

War

“To cannons, all men are equal.”

Equality

“Don't interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Strategy

“You must not fight too often but with one enemy, for you will teach him all your art of war.”

War

“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.”

Courage

“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”

Religion

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

Perseverance

“Imagination rules the world.”

Innovation

“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”

Responsibility

“Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.”

Determination

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon.”

Motivation

“Soldiers, you are naked, badly fed.… Rich provinces and great towns will be in your power, and in them you will find honor, glory, wealth. Soldiers of Italy, will you be wanting in courage and steadfastness?”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, proclamation to the Army of Italy, March 28, 1796

“I am looking for a saber.”

— Emmanuel Sieyès, 1799

“My real glory is not the forty battles I won, for Waterloo's defeat will destroy the memory of as many victories.… What nothing will destroy, what will live forever, is my Civil Code.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, dictated on St. Helena

“Soldiers of my Old Guard: I bid you farewell. For twenty years I have constantly accompanied you on the road to honor and glory. In these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as you our cause could not be lost; but the war would have been interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have entailed deeper misfortunes on France.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, farewell to the Old Guard, Fontainebleau, April 20, 1814

“What a novel my life!”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, dictated on St. Helena

“All my life, I have sacrificed everything, comfort, self-interest, happiness to my destiny. Destiny must be fulfilled. That is my chief doctrine.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, on the purpose of existence

“Work is my element. I am born and built for work. I have known the limitations of my legs. I have known the limitations of my eyes. I have never been able to know the limitations of my working capacity.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, on his working capacity

“There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte, on legacy

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Napoleon Bonaparte

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Napoleon Bonaparte

French military leader who conquered most of Europe.