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All Men Of Genius, And All Those Who Have Gained Rank In The Republic Of Letters, Are Brothers, Whatever May Be The Land Of Their Nativity.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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All Men Of Genius,

Napoleon Bonaparte

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All Men Of Genius, And All Those Who Have Gained Rank In The Republic Of Letters, Are Brothers, Whatever May Be The Land Of Their Nativity.

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When You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

Passions Change, Politics Are Immutable.

Fashion Condemns Us To Many Follies, The Greatest Is To Make Oneself Its Slave.

If You Wage War, Do It Energetically And With Severity. This Is The Only Way To Make It Shorter And Consequently Less Inhuman.

Good Intelligence Is Nine-tenths Of Any Battle.

War Is Like Government, A Matter Of Tact.

Public Instruction Should Be The First Object Of Government.

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

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.]

Tragedy Warms The Soul, Elevates The Heart, Can And Ought To Create Heroes. In This Sense, Perhaps, France Owes A Part Of Her Great Actions To Corneille.

To Make Yourself Understood To People, One Must First Speak To Their Eyes

Muhammad Was A Great Man, An Intrepid Soldier; With A Handful Of Men He Triumphed At The Battle Of Bender (sic); A Great Captain, Eloquent, A Great Man Of State, He Revived His Fatherland And Created A New People And A New Power In The Middle Of Arabia.

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.

It Is A Mistake, Too, To Say That The Face Is The Mirror Of The Soul. The Truth Is, Men Are Very Hard To Know, And Yet, Not To Be Deceived, We Must Judge Them By Their Present Actions, But For The Present Only.

The Fate Of A Battle Is The Result Of A Moment, Of A Thought: The Hostile Forces Advance With Various Combinations, They Attack Each Other And Fight For A Certain Time; The Critical Moment Arrives, A Mental Flash Decides, And The Least Reserve Accomplishes The Object.

One Must Learn To Forgive And Not To Hold A Hostile, Bitter Attitude Of Mind, Which Offends Those About Us And Prevents Us From Enjoying Ourselves. One Must Recognize Human Shortcomings And Adjust Himself To Them Rather Than To Be Constantly Finding Fault With Them.

An Army Of Lions Commanded By A Deer Will Never Be An Army Of Lions.

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

Great Men Are Meteors Designed To Burn So That Earth May Be Lighted.

There Shall Be No Alps.

There Are Certain Things In War Of Which The Commander Alone Comprehends The Importance. Nothing But His Superior Firmness And Ability Can Subdue And Surmount All Difficulties.

Policemen And Prisons Ought Never To Be The Means Used To Bring Men Back To The Practice Of Religion.

You Cannot Drag A Man's Conscience Before Any Tribunal, And No One Is Answerable For His Religious Opinions To Any Power On Earth.

The Populace Judges Of The Power Of God By The Power Of The Priests.

A Throne Is Only A Bench Covered With Velvet.

Laws Which Are Consistent In Theory Often Prove Chaotic In Practice.

I May Be Accused Or Rashness, But Not Sluggishness.

As A Rule It Is Circumstances That Make Men.

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.

I Tell You Wellington Is A Bad General, The English Are Bad Soldiers; We Will Settle This Matter By Lunch Time.

Throw Off Your Worries When You Throw Off Your Clothes At Night.

It's Not The Size Of The Army But The Power Within The Army.

Forethought We May Have, Undoubtedly, But Not Foresight.

A Cowardly Act! What Do I Care About That? You May Be Sure That I Should Never Fear To Commit One If It Were To My Advantage.

To Listen To The Interests Of All Marks An Ordinary Government; To Foresee Them Marks A Great Government.

You Must Not Fight Too Often With One Enemy, Or You Will Teach Him All Your Art Of War.

Show Me A Family Of Readers, And I Will Show You The People Who Move The World.

Send Me 300 Francs; That Sum Will Enable Me To Go To Paris. There, At Least, One Can Cut A Figure And Surmount Obstacles. Everything Tells Me I Shall Succeed. Will You Prevent Me From Doing So For The Want Of 100 Crowns?

It Is Often In The Audacity, In The Steadfastness, Of The General That The Safety And The Conservation Of His Men Is Found.

All Men Of Genius, And All Those Who Have Gained Rank In The Republic Of Letters, Are Brothers, Whatever May Be The Land Of Their Nativity.

You May Ask Me For Anything You Like Except Time.

There Is No Class Of People So Hard To Manage In A State, As Those Whose Intentions Are Honest, But Whose Consciences Are Bewitched.

Men Of Genius Are Meteors Destined To Burn Themselves Out In Lighting Up Their Age.

Society Cannot Exist Without Inequality Of Fortunes And The Inequality Of Fortunes Could Not Subsist Without Religion. Whenever A Half-starved Person Is Near Another Who Is Glutted, It Is Impossible To Reconcile The Difference If There Is Not An Authority Who Tells Him To.

It Is Easier To Brave And Threaten, Than To Conquer An Enemy.

Artillery Is More Essential To Cavalry Than To Infantry, Because Cavalry Has No Fire For Its Defence, But Depends On The Sabre.

Give Me An Educated Mother, I Shall Promise You The Birth Of A Civilized, Educated Nation

If You Want A Thing Done Well, Do It Yourself.

We Must Laugh At Man To Avoid Crying For Him.

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

Immortality Is The Best Recollection One Leaves.

There Is No Nation However Small Which Had The Right To Set Itself Free, That Has Not Rescued Itself From The Dishonour Of Obeying The Prince Imposed By An Enemy In The Hour Of Victory.

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

It Is Not Enough To Give Orders They Must Be Obeyed.

Life Is Strewn With So Many Dangers, And Can Be The Source Of So Many Misfortunes, That Death Is Not The Greatest Of Them.

Liberty And Equality Are Magical Words.

Liberty And Equality

The Implements To Him Who Can Handle Them.

There Is A Joy In Danger.

You Become Strong By Defying Defeat And By Turning Loss Into Gain And Failure To Success.

Whatever Shall We Do In That Remote Spot? Well, We Will Write Our Memoirs. Work Is The Scythe Of Time.

I Love A Brave Soldier Who Has Undergone The Baptism Of Fire.

Medicines Are Only Fit For Old People.

When A Government Is Dependent Upon Bankers For Money, They And Not The Leaders Of The Government Control The Situation

You Do Not Get Peace By Shouting: Peace. Peace Is A Meaningless Word; What We Need Is A Glorious Peace.

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

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

War Is The Business Of Barbarians.

Men Are Never Attached To You By Favours.

True Wisdom For A General Is Vigorous Determination.

The Mind Of A General Ought To Resemble And Be As Clear As The Field-glass Of A Telescope.

A New-born Government Must Shine And Astonish - The Moment It Loses Its éclat It Falls.

Friendship Is But A Name. I Love No One.

A Revolution Can Be Neither Made Nor Stopped. The Only Thing That Can Be Done Is For One Of Several Of Its Children To Give It A Direction By Dint Of Victories.

Give Me Enough Medals And I’ll Win You Any War

International Incidents Must Not Be Allowed To Shape Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy Must Shape The Incidents.

The Reason I Beat The Austrians Is, They Did Not Known The Value Of Five Minutes

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

Do Not Talk To Me Of Goodness, Of Abstract Justice, Of Nature Law. Necessity Is The Highest Law, Public Welfare Is The Highest Justice.

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.

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

The Only One Who Is Wiser Than Anyone Is Everyone.

Men Take Only Their Needs Into Consideration - Never Their Abilities.

We Should Wash Our Dirty Linen At Home.

A General-in-chief Should Ask Himself Several Times In The Day, What If The Enemy Were To Appear Now In My Front, Or On My Right, Or My Left?

My Generals Are A Parcel Of Post Inspectors.

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

The Barbarous Custom Of Having Men Beaten Who Are Suspected Of Having Important Secrets To Reveal Must Be Abolished. It Has Always Been Recognized That This Way Of Interrogating Men, By Putting Them To Torture, Produces Nothing Worthwhile.

Take Time To Deliberate, But When The Time For Action Has Arrived, Stop Thinking And Go In.

Thinking Of You

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.

Tis A Principle Of War That When You Can Use The Lightning, 'tis Better Than Cannon.

Never Interfere With An Enemy In The Process Of Destroying Himself.

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.

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

Men Are Ruled By Toys.

Soldiers! Here Is The Battle You Have So Long Desired! Henceforth Victory Depends On You; We Have Need Of It.

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

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

I May Have Had Many Projects, But I Never Was Free To Carry Out Any Of Them. It Did Me Little Good To Be Holding The Helm; No Matter How Strong My Hands, The Sudden And Numerous Waves Were Stronger Still, And I Was Wise Enough To Yield To Them Rather Than Resist Them Obstinately And Make The Ship Founder. Thus I Never Was Truly My Own Master But Was Always Ruled By Circumstances.

Wisdom And Policy Dictate That We Must Do As Destiny Demands And Keep Peace With The Irresistible March Of Events.

In War There Is But One Favorable Moment; The Great Art Is To Seize It!

Order Marches With Weighty And Measured Strides. Disorder Is Always In A Hurry.

Do You Wish To Find Out The Really Sublime? Repeat The Lord's Prayer.

I Have Made All The Calculations; Fate Will Do The Rest.

Against Attempts On My Life, I Trust In My Luck, My Good Genius, And My Guards.

An Army Must Have But One Line Of Operations. This Must Be Maintained With Care And Abandoned Only For Major Reasons.

The Basic Principle That We Must Follow In Directing The Armies Of The Republic Is This: That They Must Feed Themselves On War At The Expense Of The Enemy Territory.

Religions Are All Founded On Miracles - On Things We Cannot Understand, Such As The Trinity. Jesus Calls Himself The Son Of God, And Yet Is Descended From David. I Prefer The Religion Of Mahomet - It Is Less Ridiculous Than Ours.

War Justifies Everything.

You Don't Reason With Intellectuals. You Shoot Them.

In A Narrow Sphere Great Men Are Blunderers.

Let France Have Good Mothers, And She Will Have Good Sons.

Public Esteem Is The Recompense Of Honest Men.

I Generally Had To Give In.

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.

If You Wish To Be A Success In The World, Promise Everything, Deliver Nothing.

Broken Promises

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

History Paints The Human Heart.

It Is In Times Of Difficulty That Great Nations Like Great Men Display The Whole Energy Of Their Character And Become An Object Of Admiration To Posterity.

In Revolution There Are Only Two Sorts Of Men, Those Who Cause Them And Those Who Profit By Them.

A Nation Recruits Men More Easily Than It Can Retrieve Its Honour.

Power Is Founded Upon Opinion.

To Be Believed Make The Truth Unbelievable.

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

All Generals, Officers, And Soldiers Who Capitulate In Battle To Save Their Own Lives Should Be Decimated.

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.

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

Promptly Improve Your Accidents.

Revolutions Are Like The Most Noxious Dungheaps, Which Bring Into Life The Noblest Vegetables.

Much Shedding Of Blood, Many Great Actions, And Triumphs, Toil And Perseverance Are The End Of All Things Human.

Nothing Is More Destructive Than The Charge Of Artillery On A Crowd.

France Has More Need Of Me Than I Have Need Of France.

To Live, Is To Suffer; And The Honest Man Is Always Fighting To Be Master Of His Own Mind.

I Like Honest Men Of All Colors.

I Have Destroyed The Enemy Merely By Marches.

In Politics Stupidity Is Not A Handicap.

There Are Only Two Forces That Unite Men - Fear And Interest.

If You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

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

The Art Of Being Sometimes Audacious And Sometimes Very Prudent Is The Secret Of Success.

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

In War, The Moral Is To The Physical As Three Is To One.

A Man Is Not Dependent Upon His Fellow Creature, When He Does Not Fear Death.

Lead The Ideas Of Your Time And They Will Accompany And Support You; Fall Behind Them And They Drag You Along With Them; Oppose Them And They Will Overwhelm You.

It Is The Cause, Not The Death, That Makes The Martyr.

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

In A Battle, As In A Siege, The Art Consists In Concentrating Very Heavy Fire On A Particular Point. The Line Of Battle Once Established, The One Who Has The Ability To Concentrate An Unlooked For Mass Of Artillery Suddenly And Unexpectedly On One Of These Points Is Sure To Carry The Day.

An Army Travels On Its Stomach. Soup Makes The Soldier.

A Society Without Religion Is Like A Vessel Without Compass.

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.

My Decision To Destroy The Authority Of The Blacks In Saint Domingue (haiti) Is Not So Much Based On Considerations Of Commerce And Money, As On The Need To Block For Ever The March Of The Blacks In The World.

Cavalry Is Useful Before, During, And After The Battle.

Good Infantry Is Without Doubt The Sinews Of An Army; But If It Has To Fight A Long Time Against Very Superior Artillery, It Will Become Demoralized And Will Be Destroyed.

We Frustrate Many Designs Against Us By Pretending Not To See Them.

How Can You Have Order In A State Without Religion? For, When One Man Is Dying Of Hunger Near Another Who Is Ill Of Surfeit, He Cannot Resign Himself To This Difference Unless There Is An Authority Which Declares 'god Wills It Thus.' Religion Is Excellent Stuff For Keeping Common People Quiet.

From The Heights Of These Pyramids, Forty Centuries Look Down On Us.

You Must Not Fear Death, My Lads; Defy Him, And You Drive Him Into The Enemy's Ranks.

Kiss The Feet Of Popes Provided Their Hands Are Tied.

My Business Is To Succeed, And I’m Good At It. I Create My Iliad By My Actions, Create It Day By Day.

A Man's Palate Can, In Time, Become Accustomed To Anything.

All The Women In The World Would Not Make Me Lose An Hour.

The Greatest Ornament Of An Illustrious Life Is Modesty And Humility, Which Go A Great Way In The Character Even Of The Most Exalted Princes.

The Mohammedan Religion Is The Finest Of All.

The Most Constant, The Most Powerful, And The Most Generous Of All My Enemies.

I Am The Signet Which Marks The Page Where The Revolution Has Been Stopped; But When I Die It Will Turn The Page And Resume Its Course.

A King Should Sacrifice The Best Affections Of His Heart For The Good Of His Country; No Sacrifice Should Be Above His Determination.

I Pay Attention Only To What People Do Or Say. I Never Pay Attention To What They Think.

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.

The Truest Wisdom Is A Resolute Determination.

There Are Two Kinds Of Fidelity, That Of Dogs And That Of Cats; You, Gentleman, Have The Fidelity Of Cats Who Never Leave The House.

Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever.

I Cannot Believe There Is A God Who Punishes And Rewards, For I See Honest Folk Unlucky, And Rogues Unlucky.

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

I Am Surrounded By Priests Who Repeat Incessantly That Their Kingdom Is Not Of This World, And Yet They Lay Their Hands On Everything They Can Get.

The Greatest Danger Occurs At The Moment Of Victory

Better Live A King, Than A Prince.

After Me, The Revolution - Or, Rather The Ideas Which Formed It - Will Resume Their Course. It Will Be Like A Book From Which The Marker Is Removed, And One Starts To Read Again At The Page Where One Left Off.

When Firmness Is Sufficient, Rashness Is Unnecessary.

In War The Simplest Manoeuvres Are The Best.

Nothing Renders A Nation So Despicable As Religious Despotism.

Governments Keep Their Promises Only When They Are Forced, Or When It Is To Their Advantage To Do So.

History Is A Set Of Lies Agreed Upon.

He Who Cannot Look Over A Battlefield With A Dry Eye, Causes The Death Of Many Men Uselessly.

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

Victory Is Not Always Winning The Battle...but Rising Every Time You Fall.

Until Then, Mio Dolce Amor, A Thousand Kisses; But Give Me None In Return, For They Set My Blood On Fire.

Give Me A Turkish Army. I Will Conquer World.

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

All The Great Captains Have Performed Vast Achievements By Conforming With The Rules Of Art--by Adjusting Efforts To Obstacles.

In War, As In Prostitution, Amateurs Are Often Better Than Professionals.

Speeches Pass Away, But Acts Remain.

Independence, Like Honor, Is A Rocky Island, Without A Beach.

A General Must Be A Charlatan.

Conquest Has Made Me What I Am, Only Conquest Can Maintain Me.

A Man Who Has No Consideration For The Needs Of His Men Ought Never To Be Given Command.

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.

Where The Government Is Weak, Military Sway Prevails.

Never Ascribe To Malice That Which Is Adequately Explained By Stupidity.

In Time Of Revolution, With Perseverance And Courage, A Soldier Should Think Nothing Impossible.

The First Method Is That Of A Schemer And Leads Only To Mediocre Results; The Other Method Is The Path Of Genius And Changes The Face Of The World.

Opportunities? I Make Opportunities.

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