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Among So Many Conflicting Ideas And So Many Different Perspectives, The Honest Man Is Confused And Distressed And The Skeptic Becomes Wicked ... Since One Must Take Sides, One Might As Well Choose The Side That Is Victorious, The Side Which Devastates, Loots, And Burns. Considering The Alternative, It Is Better To Eat Than To Be Eaten.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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Among So Many Conflicting

Napoleon Bonaparte

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Among So Many Conflicting Ideas And So Many Different Perspectives, The Honest Man Is Confused And Distressed And The Skeptic Becomes Wicked ... Since One Must Take Sides, One Might As Well Choose The Side That Is Victorious, The Side Which Devastates, Loots, And Burns. Considering The Alternative, It Is Better To Eat Than To Be Eaten.

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There Is Only One Favorable Moment In War; Talent Consists In Knowing How To Seize It.

I Would Rather Have A General Who Was Lucky Than One Who Was Good.

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

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

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.

Everything Is More Or Less Organized Matter. To Think So Is Against Religion, But I Think So Just The Same.

It Is Only By Prudence, Wisdom, And Dexterity That Great Ends Are Attained And Obstacles Overcome. Without These Qualities Nothing Succeeds.

Variety Made The Revolution. Liberty Was Just A Pretext.

When I Want Any, Good Head Work Done; I Always Choose A Man, If Possible With A Long Nose.

How Many Seemingly Impossible Things Have Been Accomplished By Resolute Men Because They Had To Do, Or Die?

Impossible Things

We Are Born, We Live, We Die Among Supernatural.

There Are In Europe Many Good Generals, But They See Too Many Things At Once. I See One Thing, Namely The Enemy's Main Body. I Try To Crush It, Confident That Secondary Matters Will Then Settle Themselves.

I May Lose A Battle But I Will Never Lose A Minute.

Men Are Moved By Two Levers Only: Fear And Self Interest.

Nothing Is So Important In War As An Undivided Command.

A Man Will Fight Harder For His Interests Than For His Rights. Men Are Moved By Only Two Mechanisms: Fear And Self-interest. Victory Belongs To The Most Persevering.

A Man Will Fight Harder For His Interests Than For His Rights.

What Is History But A Fable Agreed Upon?

Writing History

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

Those Who Are Free From Common Prejudices Acquire Others.

From Triumph To Downfall There Is But One Step. I Have Noted That, In The Most Momentous Occasions, Mere Nothings Have Always Decided The Outcome Of The Greatest Events.

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

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?

The Great Art Of Governing Consists In Not Letting Men Grow Old In Their Jobs.

It Is Not Necessary To Bury The Truth. It Is Sufficient Merely To Delay It Until Nobody Cares.

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

The Surest Way To Remain Poor Is To Be An Honest Man.

If You Want To Get On In This World Make Many Promises, But Don't Keep Them.

Generals Who Save Troops For The Next Day Are Always Beaten.

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

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

Soldiers! Forty Centuries Behold You!

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.

He, Who Practices Right, But In The Hope Of Acquiring Great Renown, Is Very Near To Vice.

Bloodletting Is Among The Ingredients Of Political Medicine.

Men Are Ruled By Toys.

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

The Allied Powers Having Proclaimed That The Emperor Napoleon Is The Sole Obstacle To The Re-establishment Of Peace In Europe, He, Faithful To His Oath, Declares That He Is Ready To Descend From The Throne, To Quit France, And Even To Relinquish Life, For The Good Of His Country.

A Woman Laughing Is A Woman Conquered.

Religion Is What Keeps The Poor From Murdering The Rich.

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.

War,--the Trade Of Barbarians!

As For Me, To Love You Alone, To Make You Happy, To Do Nothing Which Would Contradict Your Wishes, This Is My Destiny And The Meaning Of My Life.

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

Morality Has Nothing To Do With Such A Man As I Am.

He Who Is Unmoved By Tears Has No Heart.

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

The Truest Wisdom Is A Resolute Determination.

Secrets Travel Fast In Paris.

Machiavelli Is Right: One Always Must Live With One's Friends With The Idea That They May Turn Into One's Enemies. He Should Have Said, With Everyone.

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.

Do You Know What Amazes Me More Than Anything Else? The Impotence Of Force To Organize Anything.

Reprisals Are But A Sad Resource.

High Politic Is Only Common Sense Applied To Great Things.

Without Cavalry, Battles Are Without Result.

As For Myself, I Do Not Believe That Such A Person As Jesus Christ Ever Existed; But As The People Are Inclined To Superstition, It Is Proper Not To Oppose Them.

When People Cease To Complain, They Cease To Think.

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.

Ordinary Men Died, Men Of Iron Were Taken Prisoner: I Only Brought Back With Me Men Of Bronze.

Peoples Of Egypt , You Will Be Told That I Have Come To Destroy Your Religion. Do Not Believe It! Reply That I Have Come To Restore Your Rights!

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

Unite For The Public Safety, If You Would Remain An Independent Nation.

The First Quality Of A Soldier Is Constancy In Enduring Fatigue And Hardship. Courage Is Only The Second. Poverty Privation And Want Are The School Of The Good Soldier.

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

My Downfall Raises Me To Infinite Heights.

We Often Get In Quicker By The Back Door Than By The Front.

The Poor Man Commands Respect; The Beggar Must Always Excite Anger.

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

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

Alexander, Charlemagne And Myself All Tried To Found An Empire On Force And We Failed. Jesus Christ Is Building An Empire On Love, And Today There Are Millions Of People Who Would Gladly Die For His Sake.

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.

I Have Seen Only You, I Have Admired Only You, I Desire Only You

Time Is The Great Art Of Man.

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

Men Soon Get Tired Of Shedding Their Blood For The Advantage Of A Few Individuals, Who Think They Amply Reward The Soldiers Perils With The Treasures They Amass.

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

A Legislator Must Know How To Take Advantage Of Even The Defects Of Those He Wants To Govern. The Art Consists In Making Others Work Rather Than In Wearing Oneself Out.

It Is The Success Which Makes Great Men.

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

Men Have Their Virtues And Their Vices, Their Heroisms And Their Perversities; Men Are Neither Wholly Good Nor Wholly Bad, But Possess And Practice All That There Is Of Good And Bad Here Below. Such Is The General Rule. Temperament, Education, The Accidents Of Life, Are Modifying Factors. Outside Of This, Everything Is Ordered Arrangement, Everything Is Chance. Such Has Been My Rule Of Expectation And It Has Usually Brought Me Success.

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

I Am Conquered Less By Fortune Than By The Egotism And Ingratitude Of My Companions In Arms.

Where Flowers Degenerate Man Cannot Live.

Great Battles Are Won With Artillery.

In War, Moral Factors Acount For Three Quarters Of The Whole; Relative Material Strength Accounts For Only One Quarter.

When Your Enemy Is Doing Something Wrong, Do Not Interrupt Him.

If They Want Peace, Nations Should Avoid The Pin-pricks That Precede Cannon Shots.

You May Ask Me For Anything You Like Except Time.

What A Solace Christianity Must Be To One Who Has An Undoubted Conviction Of Its Truth!

It's The People Who Are In The Wrong Who Get Angry.

My Star Was Fading, I Felt The Reins Slipping Out Of My Grasp, And Could Do Nothing To Stop It.

Un Croquis Vaut Mieux Qu

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

There Is No Strength Without Justice.

In Politics Nothing Is Immutable. Events Carry Within Them An Invincible Power.

War Is Not At All Such A Difficult Art As People Think. . . . In Reality It Would Seem That He Is Vanquished Who Is Afraid Of His Adversary And The The Whole Secret Lies In That.

Great Men Grow Tired Of Contentedness.

Courage Is Like Love; It Must Have Hope For Nourishment.

To Attach No Importance To Public Opinion, Is A Proof That You Do Not Merit Its Suffrage.

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

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!

Courage Cannot Be Counterfeited. It Is One Virtue That Escapes Hypocrisy.

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

Ability Is Nothing Without Opportunity.

He That Makes War Without Many Mistakes Has Not Made War Very Long.

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

Malice Delights To Blacken The Characters Of Prominent Men.

All Becomes Easy When We Follow The Current Of Opinion; It Is The Ruler Of The World.

I Like Honest Men Of All Colors.

Mankind Are In The End Always Governed By Superiority Of Intellectual Faculties, And None Are More Sensible Of This Than The Military Profession. When, On My Return From Italy, I Assumed The Dress Of The Institute, And Associated With Men Of Science, I Knew What I Was Doing: I Was Sure Of Not Being Misunderstood By The Lowest Drummer Boy In The Army.

History Paints The Human Heart.

Brave Deeds Are The Monuments Of Brave Men.

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

The Art Of Government Is Not To Let Me Grow Stale.

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

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.

Europe Is A Molehill. All Great Empires And Revolutions Have Been On The Orient; Six Hundred Millions Live There.

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

A Constitution Should Be Short And Obscure.

The Worse The Troops The Greater The Need Of Artillery.

Where The Government Is Weak, Military Sway Prevails.

If You Set Out To Take Vienna, Take Vienna.

One Should Never Forbid What One Lacks The Power To Prevent.

Opportunities? I Make Opportunities.

Those Who Have Changed The Universe Have Never Done It By Changing Officials, But Always By Inspiring The People.

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

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

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

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

God Has Decreed That There Be Sick And Poor In This World, But In The Next It Will Be The Other Way Around.

Men Grow Old Quickly On The Battlefield.

The Jews Are The Master Robbers Of The Modern Age.

Cossacks Are The Best Light Troops Among All That Exist. If I Had Them In My Army, I Would Go Through All The World With Them.

He Is Almost A Statesman. He Lies Well.

Among So Many Conflicting Ideas And So Many Different Perspectives, The Honest Man Is Confused And Distressed And The Skeptic Becomes Wicked ... Since One Must Take Sides, One Might As Well Choose The Side That Is Victorious, The Side Which Devastates, Loots, And Burns. Considering The Alternative, It Is Better To Eat Than To Be Eaten.

It Is With Artillery That War Is Made.

Adversity Is The Midwife Of Genius

Let The Path Be Open To Talent.

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.

The Inevitable End Of Multiple Chiefs Is That They Fade And Disappear For Lack Of Unity.

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

All Great Events Hang By A Single Thread. The Clever Man Takes Advantage Of Everything, Neglects Nothing That May Give Him Some Added Opportunity; The Less Clever Man, By Neglecting One Thing, Sometimes Misses Everything.

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

To Extraordinary Circumstance We Must Apply Extraordinary Remedies.

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.

Champagne! In Victory, One Deserves It; In Defeat One Needs It.

Skepticism Is A Virtue In History As Well As In Philosophy.

The Torment Of Precautions Often Exceeds The Dangers To Be Avoided. It Is Sometimes Better To Abandon One's Self To Destiny.

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.

I Have Only One Counsel For You - Be Master.

Clever Policy Consists In Making Nations Believe They Are Free.

Victory Belongs To The Most Persevering.

On Victory, You Deserve Beer. On Defeat, You Need It.

Anarchy Is The Stepping Stone To Absolute Power.

Once You Have Made Up Your Mind, Stick To It; There Is No Longer Any 'if' Or 'but'.

You Cannot Stop Me; I Spend Thirty Thousand Men A Month.

Great Men Are Never Cruel Without Necessity.

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.

Put Your Iron Hand In A Velvet Glove.

Parties Weaken Themselves By Their Fear Of Capable Men.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

In A Narrow Sphere Great Men Are Blunderers.

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

Imagination Governs The World.

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

You Can Do Anything With Bayonets Except Sit On Them

Promptly Improve Your Accidents.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, And I Have Founded Empires. But On What Did We Rest The Creations Of Our Genius? Upon Force. Jesus Christ Founded His Empire Upon Love; And At This Hour Millions Of Men Would Die For Him.

Inspirational Love

Neglect Of Duty Does Not Cease, By Repetition, To Be Neglect Of Duty.

The Contagion Of Crime Is Like That Of The Plague. Criminals Collected Together Corrupt Each Other. They Are Worse Than Ever When, At The Termination Of Their Punishment, They Return To Society.

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

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.

No One But Myself Can Be Blamed For My Fall. I Have Been My Own Greatest Enemy-the Cause Of My Own Disastrous Fate.

Men Are Never Attached To You By Favours.

Immortality Is The Best Recollection One Leaves.

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

I Have Destroyed The Enemy Merely By Marches.

One Bad General Is Worth Two Good Ones.

We Should Always Go Before Our Enemies With Confidence, Otherwise Our Apparent Uneasiness Inspires Them With Greater Boldness.

From Triumph To Downfall Is But A Step. I Have Seen A Trifle Decide The Most Important Issues In The Gravest Affairs.

In Political Administration, No Problem Is Ever Simple. It Can Never Be Reduced To The Question Whether A Certain Measure Is Good Or Not.

Men Will Risk Their Lives, Even Die For Ribbons.

The Policies Of All Powers Are Inherent In Their Geography.

Space We Can Recover; Time Never.

Procrastination

One Must Change One's Tactics Every Ten Years If One Wishes To Maintain One's Superiority.

What My Enemies Call A General Peace Is My Destruction. What I Call Peace Is Merely The Disarmament Of My Enemies. Am I Not More Moderate Than They?

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

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

Treason Is A Matter Of Dates.

The Law, That Is What Makes Men Stay Honest.

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

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.

An Urgent Missive Sent To Josephine Home In Three Days. Don't Wash.

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