Background Image

...

A Great Nation Should Have A Fixed Government, So That The Death Of One Man Should Not Overturn It.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

A Great Nation Should

Napoleon Bonaparte

...

A Great Nation Should Have A Fixed Government, So That The Death Of One Man Should Not Overturn It.

Views: 38290

Topic

More From Napoleon Bonaparte

In War As In Love, To Bring Matters To A Close, You Must Get Close Together.

The Jews Are The Master Robbers Of The Modern Age.

The Purpose Of Religion Is To Keep The Poor From Killing The Rich.

A Great People May Be Killed, But They Cannot Be Intimidated.

Women Are Nothing But Machines For Producing Children.

History Paints The Human Heart.

In War, The General Alone Can Judge Of Certain Arrangements. It Depends On Him Alone To Conquer Difficulties By His Own Superior Talents And Resolution.

All Things Proclaim The Existence Of God.

Existence Of God

Never Depend On The Multitude, Full Of Instability And Whims; Always Take Precautions Against It.

Posterity Will Talk Of Washington As The Founder Of A Great Empire, When My Name Shall Be Lost In The Vortex Of Revolution.

Every Man Who Is Worth Thirty Millions And Is Not Wedded To Them, Is Dangerous To The Government.

There Is No Real Force Without Justice.

Nature Intended Women To Be Our Slaves. They Are Our Property.

From First To Last, Jesus Is The Same; Always The Same--majestic And Simple, Infinitely Severe And Infinitely Gentle.

Rascality Has Limits; Stupidity Has Not.

Democracy, If It Is Reasonable, Limits Itself To Giving Everyone An Equal Opportunity To Compete And To Obtain.

Lies Circle The Earth While Truth Is Still Trying To Put On Its Shoes.

Prison, Blood, Death, Create Enthusiasts And Martyrs, And Bring Forth Courage And Desperate Resolution.

History Is The Version Of Past Events That People Have Decided To Agree Upon.

Circumstances-what Are Circumstances? I Make Circumstances

If Fifty Thousand Men Were To Die For The Good Of The State, I Certainly Would Weep For Them, But Political Necessity Comes Before Everything Else.

War Must Be Made As Intense And Awful As Possible In Order To Make It Short, And Thus To Diminish Its Horrors.

Brave Deeds Are The Monuments Of Brave Men.

Power Is Founded Upon Opinion.

The Fool Has One Great Advantage Over A Man Of Sense; He Is Always Satisfied With Himself.

Obedience To Public Authority Ought Not To Be Based Either On Ignorance Or Stupidity.

The Great Difficulty With Politics Is, That There Are No Established Principles.

Man Will Believe Anything, As Long As It's Not In The Bible.

To Extraordinary Circumstance We Must Apply Extraordinary Remedies.

Read Over And Over Again The Campaigns Of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene And Frederic. ... This Is The Only Way To Become A Great General And Master The Secrets Of The Art Of War.

The Great Proof Of Madness Is The Disproportion Of One's Designs To One's Means.

A True Master Of Politics Is Able To Calculate, Down To The Smallest Fraction, The Advantages To Which He May Put His Very Faults.

Men Are Led By Trifles.

Chess Is Too Difficult To Be A Game And Not Serious Enough To Be A Science Or An Art.

Our Hour Is Marked, And No One Can Claim A Moment Of Life Beyond What Fate Has Predestined.

The First Quality Of The Commander-in-chief Is A Cool Head To Receive A Correct Impression Of Things. He Should Not Allow Himself To Be Confused By Either Good Or Bad News.

An Order That Can Be Misunderstood, Will Be Misunderstood.

I Would Rather Suffer With Coffee Than Be Senseless.

Called To The Throne By The Voice Of The People, My Maxim Has Always Been: A Career Open To Talent Without Distinction Of Birth. It Is This System Of Equality For Which The European Oligarchy Detests Me

Impossible Is A Word To Be Found Only In The Dictionary Of Fools.

The Man Fitted For Affairs And Authority Never Considers Individuals, But Things And Their Consequences.

If The Earth Were A Single State, Istanbul Would Be Its Capital.

The Army Is The True Nobility Of Our Country.

Better Live A King, Than A Prince.

Death Is Nothing, But To Live Defeated And Inglorious Is To Die Daily.

Those Who Failed To Oppose Me, Who Readily Agreed With Me, Accepted All My Views, And Yielded Easily To My Opinions, Were Those Who Did Me The Most Injury, And Were My Worst Enemies, Because, By Surrendering To Me So Easily, They Encouraged Me To Go Too Far... I Was Then Too Powerful For Any Man, Except Myself, To Injure Me.

If I Were To Give Liberty To The Press, My Power Could Not Last Three Days.

Imagination Rules The World.

In Politics, An Absurdity In Public Business Is Going Into It.

The Best Way To Make Every One Poor Is To Insist On Equality Of Wealth.

What Is The Government? Nothing, Unless Supported By Opinion.

Power Is What They Like - It Is The Greatest Of All Aphrodisiacs.

France Always Has Plenty Men Of Talent, But It Is Always Deficient In Men Of Action And High Character.

When You Determine To Risk A Battle, Reserve To Yourself Every Possible Chance Of Success, More Particularly If You Have To Deal With An Adversary Of Superior Talent, For If You Are Beaten, Even In The Midst Of Your Magazines And Your Communications, Woe To The Vanquished!

Two Armies Are Two Bodies Which Meet And Try To Frighten Each Other.

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

God Is On The Side Of The Heaviest Cannon.

Victory Belongs To The Most Persevering.

The Jesuits Are A Military Organization, Not A Religious Order. Their Chief Is A General Of An Army, Not The Mere Father Abbot Of A Monastery. And The Aim Of This Organization Is Power - Power In Its Most Despotic Exercise - Absolute Power, Universal Power, Power To Control The World By The Volition Of A Single Man. Jesuitism Is The Most Absolute Of Despotisms - And At The Same Time The Greatest And Most Enormous Of Abuses.

I May Have Had Many Projects, But I Never Was Free To Carry Out Any Of Them.

Opportunities? I Make Opportunities.

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.

Man Is Entitled By Birthright To A Share Of The Earth's Produce Sufficient To Fill The Needs Of His Existence.

Unity Of Command Is Essential To The Economy Of Time. Warfare In The Field Was Like A Siege: By Directing All One's Force To A Single Point A Breach Might Be Made, And The Equilibrium Of Opposition Destroyed.

The Transition From The Defensive To The Offensive Is One Of The Most Delicate Operations In War.

There Is Only One Step From The Sublime To The Ridiculous.

After Making A Mistake Or Suffering A Misfortune, The Man Of Genius Always Gets Back On His Feet.

Medicine Is A Collection Of Uncertain Prescriptions, The Results Of Which, Taken Collectively, Are More Fatal Than Useful To Mankind.

Orders And Decorations Are Necessary In Order To Dazzle The People.

Treaties Are Observed As Long As They Are In Harmony With Interests.

Every Means Should Be Taken To Attach The Soldier To His Colours.

France Is Invaded; I Am Leaving To Take Command Of My Troops, And, With God's Help And Their Valor, I Hope Soon To Drive The Enemy Beyond The Frontier.

Victory And Disaster Establish Indestructible Bonds Between Armies And Their Commanders.

We Should Wash Our Dirty Linen At Home.

Pure Politics Is Merely The Calculus Of Combinations And Of Chances.

Die Young, And I Shall Accept Your Death-but Not If You Have Lived Without Glory, Without Being Useful To Your Country, Without Leaving A Trace Of Your Existence: For That Is Not To Have Lived At All.

Insubordination May Only Be The Evidence Of A Strong Mind.

Never Tell Your Enemy He Is Doing The Wrong Thing.

I Cannot Approve Of Your Method Of Operation, You Proceed Like A Bewildered Idiot, Taking Not The Least Notice Of My Orders.

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.

If I Had To Choose A Religion, The Sun As The Universal Giver Of Life Would Be My God.

It Is Not Set Speeches At The Moment Of Battle That Render Soldiers Brave.

The Fate Of A Nation May Sometimes Depend Upon The Position Of A Fortress.

Soldiers Generally Win Battles; Generals Get Credit For Them.

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.

It Should Not Be Believed That A March Of Three Or Four Days In The Wrong Direction Can Be Corrected By A Countermarch. As A Rule, This Is To Make Two Mistakes Instead Of One.

How Many Really Capable Men Are Children More Than Once During The Day!

I May Be Accused Or Rashness, But Not Sluggishness.

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.

There Is Only One Thing In This World, And That Is To Keep Acquiring Money And More Money, Power And More Power. All The Rest Is Meaningless.

The Worse The Man, The Better The Soldier.

I Drink Champagne When I Win, To Celebrate...and I Drink Champagne When I Lose, To Console Myself.

I Am A Soldier And Accustomed To Risking My Life Every Day. I Am Full Of The Fire Of Youth; I Cannot Act With The Restraint Of An Accomplished Diplomat.

In War, Character And Opinion Make More Than Half Of The Reality.

Human Life Is The Only Thing That Takes Care Of Itself.

Forethought We May Have, Undoubtedly, But Not Foresight.

When You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

I Closed The Gulf Of Anarchy And Brought Order Out Of Chaos. I Rewarded Merit Regardless Of Birth Or Wealth, Wherever I Found It. I Abolished Feudalism And Restored Equality To All Regardless Of Religion And Before The Law. I Fought The Decrepit Monarchies Of The Old Regime Because The Alternative Was The Destruction Of All This. I Purified The Revolution.

The Art Of War Is To Gain Time When Your Strength Is Inferior.

What Is The Future? What Is The Past? What Are We? What Is The Magic Fluid That Surrounds Us And Conceals The Things We Most Need To Know? We Live And Die In The Midst Of Marvels.

Across A Chasm Of Eighteen Hundred Years, Jesus Christ Makes A Demand Which Is Beyond All Others Difficult To Satisfy; He Asks For That Which A Philosopher May Often Seek In Vain At The Hands Of His Friends, Or A Father Of His Children, Or A Bride Of Her Spouse, Or A Man Of His Brother. He Asks For The Human Heart; He Will Have It Entirely To Himself. He Demands It Unconditionally; And Forthwith His Demand Is Granted. Wonderful!

The Implements To Him Who Can Handle Them.

Why And How Are Words So Important That They Cannot Be Too Often Used.

It Must Be Recognized That The Real Truths Of History Are Hard To Discover. Happily, For The Most Part, They Are Rather Matters Of Curiosity Than Of Real Importance.

A Form Of Government That Is Not The Result Of A Long Sequence Of Shared Experiences, Efforts, And Endeavors Can Never Take Root.

I Base My Calculation On The Expectation That Luck Will Be Against Me.

Force Is The Law Of Animals, Men Are Ruled By Conviction.

Since The Discovery Of Printing, Knowledge Has Been Called To Power, And Power Has Been Used To Make Knowledge A Slave.

It Is With Artillery That War Is Made.

It Is Only With Prudence, Sagacity, And Much Dexterity That Great Aims Are Accomplished, And All Obstacles Surmounted. Otherwise Nothing Is Accomplished.

An Army's Effectiveness Depends On Its Size, Training, Experience, And Morale, And Morale Is Worth More Than Any Of The Other Factors Combined.

The Herd Seek Out The Great, Not For Their Sake But For Their Influence; And The Great Welcome Them Out Of Vanity Or Need.

History Is A Myth That Men Agree To Believe.

Where The Government Is Weak, Military Sway Prevails.

We Are Made Weak Both By Idleness And Distrust Of Ourselves. Unfortunate, Indeed, Is He Who Suffers From Both. If He Is A Mere Individual He Becomes Nothing; If He Is A King He Is Lost.

Treason Is A Matter Of Dates.

One Can Lead A Nation Only By Helping It See A Bright Outlook. A Leader Is A Dealer In Hope.

Nothing Is More Arrogant Than The Weakness Which Feels Itself Supported By Power.

Religion Is Excellent Stuff For Keeping Common People Quiet.

Incidents Should Not Govern Policy; But, Policy Incidents.

Medicines Are Only Fit For Old People.

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 A Joy In Danger.

The Best Generals Are Those Who Have Served In The Artillery.

This Soldier, I Realized, Must Have Had Friends At Home And In His Regiment; Yet He Lay There Deserted By All Except His Dog. I Looked On, Unmoved, At Battles Which Decided The Future Of Nations. Tearless, I Had Given Orders Which Brought Death To Thousands. Yet Here I Was Stirred, Profoundly Stirred, Stirred To Tears. And By What? By The Grief Of One Dog. Napoleon Bonaparte, On Finding A Dog Beside The Body Of His Dead Master, Licking His Face And Howling, On A Moonlit Field After A Battle. Napoleon Was Haunted By This Scene Until His Own Death.

Oh Man, Man. How Despicable In Slavery, How Great When Fired With The Love Of Freedom!

Destiny Urges Me To A Goal Of Which I Am Ignorant. Until That Goal Is Attained I Am Invulnerable, Unassailable. When Destiny Has Accomplished Her Purpose In Me, A Fly May Suffice To Destroy Me.

We Are Either Kings Or Pawns Of Men

If You (to General Bertrand) Do Not Perceive That Jesus Christ Is God, Very Well; Then I Did Wrong To Make You A General.

True Character Stands The Test Of Emergencies. Do Not Be Mistaken, It Is Weakness From Which The Awakening Is Rude.

Success Is The Most Convincing Talker In The World.

Public Instruction Should Be The First Object Of Government.

The Most Difficult Art Is Not In The Choice Of Men, But In Giving To The Men Chosen The Highest Service Of Which They Are Capable.

The Division Of Labor, Which Has Brought Such Perfection In Mechanical Industries, Is Altogether Fatal When Applied To Productions Of The Mind. All Work Of The Mind Is Superior In Proportion As The Mind That Produces It Is Universal.

Division Of Labor

The Purely Defensive Is Doomed To Defeat.

Clearly, The Pleasures Wines Afford Are Transitory - But So Are Those Of The Ballet, Or Of A Musical Performance. Wine Is Inspiring And Adds Greatly To The Joy Of Living.

A Great Nation Should Have A Fixed Government, So That The Death Of One Man Should Not Overturn It.

Being In The Tuileries Is Not Everything: What Matters Is To Stay Here.

When Small Men Attempt Great Enterprises, They Always End By Reducing Them To The Level Of Their Mediocrity.

This Year Has Begun Hopefully For Right Thinkers. After All These Centuries Of Feudal Barbarism And Political Slavery, It Is Surprising To See How The Word Of 'liberty' Sets Minds On Fire.

If I Had Not Been Defeated In Acre Against Jezzar Pasha Of Turk. I Would Conquer All Of The East.

The Public Spirit Is In The Hands Of The Man Who Knows How To Make Use Of It.

A King Is Sometimes Obliged To Commit Crimes; But They Are The Crimes Of His Position.

Muhammad Was A Prince; He Rallied His Compatriots Around Him. In A Few Years, The Muslims Conquered Half Of The World. They Plucked More Souls From False Gods, Knocked Down More Idols, Razed More Pagan Temples In Fifteen Years Than The Followers Of Moses And Jesus Did In Fifteen Centuries. Muhammad Was A Great Man. He Would Indeed Have Been A God, If The Revolution That He Had Performed Had Not Been Prepared By The Circumstances.

The Unwilling Soldier Will Do Anything To Fight For A Useless Fabric Piece Of Ribbon.

The Conscience Is The Sacred Haven Of The Liberty Of Man.

Democracy May Become Frenzied, But It Has Feelings And Can Be Moved. As For Aristocracy, It Is Always Cold And Never Forgives.

Mankind's Worst Enemy Is Fear Of Work

Love Is The Occupation Of The Idle Man, The Amusement Of A Busy One, And The Shipwreck Of A Sovereign.

Great Ambition Is The Passion Of A Great Character.

Timid And Cowardly Soldiers Cause The Loss Of A Nation's Independence; But Pusillanimous Magistrates Destroy The Empire Of The Laws, The Rights Of The Throne, And Even Social Order Itself.

In Politics Nothing Is Immutable. Events Carry Within Them An Invincible Power. The Unwise Destroy Themselves In Resistance. The Skillful Accept Events, Take Strong Hold Of Them And Direct Them.

Soldiers Win Battles And Generals Get The Medals.

We Walk Faster When We Walk Alone.

A Government Protected By Foreigners Will Never Be Accepted By A Free People.

As To Moral Courage, I Have Very Rarely Met With The Two O'clock In The Morning Kind. I Mean Unprepared Courage, That Which Is Necessary On An Unexpected Occasion, And Which, In Spite Of The Most Unforeseen Events, Leaves Full Freedom Of Judgement And Decision.

Be Successful! I Judge Men Only By The Results Of Their Actions.

The Turks Can Be Killed, But They Can Never Be Conquered.

Do You Know What Is More Hard To Bear Than The Reverses Of Fortune? It Is The Baseness, The Hideous Ingratitude, Of Man.

My Enemies Make Appointments At My Tomb.

The Act Of Policing Is, In Order To Punish Less Often, To Punish More Severely.

But It Is At Home And Not In Public That One Should Wash Ones Dirty Linen. [fr., Car C'est En Famille, Ce N'est Pas En Public, Qu'un Lave Son Linge Sale.]

Oh Well, No Matter What Happens, There's Always Death.

If You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

You Can Do Anything With Bayonets Except Sit On Them

The Only Way To Lead People Is To Show Them A Future: A Leader Is A Dealer In Hope.

Flatterers And Men Of Learning Do Not Accord Well With Each Other.

It Is Easy To Know When A Government Wishes For Peace By Observing The Character Of The Person Sent To Negotiate For It.

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.

Government Lies

Terrorism, War & Bankruptcy Are Caused By The Privatization Of Money, Issued As A Debt And Compounded By Interest.

If You Know A Country's Geography, You Can Understand And Predict Its Foreign Policy.

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.

Whatever Misanthropists May Say, Ingrates And The Perverse Are Exceptions In The Human Species.

In War You See Your Own Troubles; Those Of The Enemy You Cannot See. You Must Show Confidence.

All Italians Are Plunderers.

In Tragedy Great Men Are More Truly Great Than In History. We See Them Only In The Crises Which Unfold Them.

Every French Soldier Carriers A Marshal's Baton In His Knapsack.

Take A Dose Of Medicine Once, And In All Probability You Will Be Obliged To Take An Additional Hundred Afterwards

Half Of The People In The World Are Below Average.

God! How Men Of Letters Are Stupid.

To Write History One Must Be More Than A Man, Since The Author Who Holds The Pen Of This Great Justiciary Must Be Free From All Preoccupation Of Interest Or Vanity.

A Woman Laughing Is A Woman Conquered.

The Bed Has Become A Place Of Luxury To Me! I Would Not Exchange It For All The Thrones In The World.

I Am The Successor, Not Of Louis Xvi, But Of Charlemagne.

I Would Believe Any Religion That Could Prove It Had Existed Since The Beginning Of The World. But When I See Socrates, Plato, Moses, And Mohammed I Do Not Think There Is Such A One. All Religions Owe Their Origin To Man.

You May Ask Me For Anything You Like Except Time.

Republican Despotism Is More Fertile In Acts Of Tyranny, Because Everyone Has A Hand In It.

A Constitution Should Be Framed So As Not To Impede The Action Of Government, Nor Force The Government To Its Violation.

Power Is My Mistress. I Have Worked Too Hard At Her Conquest To Allow Anyone To Take Her Away From Me.

Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever.

The Only Conquests That Are Permanent And Leave No Regrets Are Our Conquests Over Ourselves.

It Is Necessary For The Heart To Feel As For The Body To Be Fed.

A Man Like Me Troubles Himself Little About A Million Men.

Agriculture Is The Soul And Chief Support Of Empires; Industry Produces Riches And The Happiness Of The People; Exportation Represents The Superabundance, And Good Use Of Both.

You Don't Govern Men Who Don't Have Religion, You Shoot Them.

War Justifies Everything.

Great Events Ever Depend But Upon A Single Hair. The Adroit Man Profits By Everything, Neglects Nothing Which Can Increase His Chances; The Less Adroit, By Sometimes Disregarding A Single Chance, Fails In Everything.

Large Legislative Bodies Resolve Themselves Into Coteries, And Coteries Into Jealousies.

The Emperor Died Forsaken By All, On This Horrible Rock. (st. Helena) His Death Struggle Was Awful!

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.

Trending Author

Lurlene McDaniel

Category