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

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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Democracy, If It Is

Napoleon Bonaparte

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

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In A Great Nation, The Majority Are Incapable Of Judging Wisely Of Things.

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

My Mind Is A Chest Of Drawers. When I Wish To Deal With A Subject, I Shut All The Drawers But The One In Which The Subject Is To Be Found. When I Am Wearied, I Shut All The Drawers And Go To Sleep.

It Is An Approved Maxim In War, Never To Do What The Enemy Wishes You To Do, For This Reason Alone, That He Desires It.

Every Hour Of Lost Time Is A Chance Of Future Misfortune.

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

The Stupid Speak Of The Past, The Wise Of The Present, And Fools Of The Future.

Rashness Succeeds Often, Still More Often Fails.

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

Never Tell Your Enemy He Is Doing The Wrong Thing.

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.

Europe Thus Divided Into Nationalities Freely Formed And Free Internally, Peace Between States Would Have Become Easier: The United States Of Europe Would Become A Possibility.

The Law, That Is What Makes Men Stay Honest.

Diplomacy Is The Police In Grand Costume.

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.

The Practice Of Law Sharpens The Mind By Making It Narrow.

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

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.

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

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.

Men Who Have Changed The World Never Achieved Their Success By Winning The Chief Citizens To Their Side, But Always By Stirring The Masses.

Imagination Rules The World.

A Society Without Religion Is Like A Vessel Without Compass.

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.

Equality Should Be The Chief Basis Of The Education Of Youth.

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.

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

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

In War, Men Are Nothing, One Man Is Everything.

The Battlefield Is A Scene Of Constant Chaos. The Winner Will Be The One Who Controls That Chaos, Both His Own And The Enemies.

You Can Do Anything With Bayonets Except Sit On Them

People Take England On Trust, And Repeat That Shakespeare Is The Greatest Of All Authors. I Have Read Him: There Is Nothing That Compares Racine Or Corneille: His Plays Are Unreadable, Pitiful.

Clever Policy Consists In Making Nations Believe They Are Free.

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 Reason Most People Fail Instead Of Succeed Is They Trade What They Want Most For What They Want At The Moment.

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

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.

I Know He's A Good General, But Is He Lucky?

We Should Wash Our Dirty Linen At Home.

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

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.

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.

The Concordat Is Not The Victory Of Any One Party But The Consolidation Of All.

I Saw The Crown Of France Laying On The Ground, So I Picked It Up With My Sword.

Men Are Lead By Trifles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sentiment Of National Honor Is Never More Than Half Extinguished In The French. It Takes Only A Spark To Re-kindle It.

The Heart Of A Statesman Should Be In His Head.

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.

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

All Religions Have Been Made By Men.

The Object Of War Is Victory, The Object Of Victory Is Conquest, And The Object Of Conquest Is Occupation.

When I Give A Minister An Order, I Leave It To Him To Find The Means To Carry It Out.

Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever.

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

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.

The World Is Not Ruined By The Wickedness Of The Wicked, But By The Weakness Of The Good.

An Empty Throne Always Tempts Me.

Let The Path Be Open To Talent.

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

Christ Alone Has Succeeded In So Raising The Mind Of Man Toward The Unseen, That It Becomes Insensible To The Barriers Of Time And Space.

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

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

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

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

Men Are More Easily Governed Through Their Vices Than Through Their Virtues.

A Magistrate Is Not A Father; He Must Be Just And Severe. Only Tyrants Are Fathers.

Vengeance Has No Foresight.

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

Great Men Are Meteors, Consuming Themselves To Light The World

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

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.

The Purely Defensive Is Doomed To Defeat.

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

Strong Coffee, Much Strong Coffee, Is What Awakens Me. Coffee Gives Me Warmth, Waking, An Unusual Force And A Pain That Is Not Without Very Great Pleasure.

They Are The Carrion Birds Of Humanity...[speaking Of The Jews] Are A State Within A State. They Are Certainly Not Real Citizens...the Evils Of Jews Do Not Stem From Individuals But From The Fundamental Nature Of These People.

A Beautiful Woman Like Eyes, And A Good Heart; One Is A Beautiful Thing, And Other Treasures.

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

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

You Can Not Lead A Battle If You Think You Look Silly On A Horse.

Malice Delights To Blacken The Characters Of Prominent Men.

I Do Not Believe It Is In Our Nature To Love Impartially. We Deceive Ourselves When We Think We Can Love Two Beings, Even Our Own Children, Equally. There Is Always A Dominant Affection.

The Confidence With Which A Sovereign Is Invested, Is Solid Only When It Is Sanctioned By The Suffrages Of The People, Who Clothed Him With The Supreme Magistracy.

Whatever May Be The Position In Life Of A Parent, It Is His Duty To Share His Crust With His Children. If You Want A Thing Done Well, Do It Yourself.

To Extraordinary Circumstance We Must Apply Extraordinary Remedies.

To Understand The Man You Have To Know What Was Happening In The World When He Was Twenty.

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.

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

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!

A Book In Which There Were No Lies Would Be A Curiosity.

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

Has A Man The Right To Kill Himself? Yes, If His Death Harms No One And If Life Is An Evil To Him. When Is Life An Evil? When It Offers A Man Nothing But Suffering And Pain.

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

Morality For The Upper Classes, The Gallows For The Rabbles.

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

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

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.

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.

The Army Is The True Nobility Of Our Country.

The Merit Of Mahomet Is That He Founded A Religion Without An Inferno.

Among Those Who Dislike Oppression Are Many Who Like To Oppress.

In Our Time No One Has The Conception Of What Is Great. It Is Up To Me To Show Them.

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

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

I Am A Monarch Of God's Creation, And You Reptiles Of The Earth Dare Not Oppose Me. I Render An Account Of My Government To None Save God And Jesus Christ.

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

True Heroism Consists In Being Superior To The Ills Of Life, In Whatever Shape They May Challenge Us To Combat.

I Don't Employ Talleyrand When I Want A Thing Done, But Only When I Want To Have The Appearance Of Wanting To Do It.

Those Who Failed To Oppose Me, Who Readily Agreed With Me And Accepted All My Views, Were Those Who Did Me The Most Injury.

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.

Fanaticism Must Be Put To Sleep Before It Can Be Eradicated.

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

Of All The Peoples Of Europe, Spaniards Disgust Me The Least.

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

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.

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

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

Vengeance Is Without Foresight.

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

The Leader's Role Is To Define Reality, Then Give Hope

Public Instruction Should Be The First Object Of Government.

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

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.

The Admiral Needs Only One Science, That Of Navigation. The General Needs All The Sciences.

It Is Rare That A Legislature Reasons. It Is Too Quickly Impassioned.

The English Have No Exaulted Sentiments. They Can All Be Bought.

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

Give Me A Turkish Army. I Will Conquer World.

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

Time Is The Great Art Of Man.

A Revolution Is An Idea Which Has Found Its Bayonets.

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.

This Accession Of Territory Affirms Forever The Power Of The United States, And I Have Given England A Maritime Rival Who Sooner Or Later Will Humble Her Pride.

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

Forethought We May Have, Undoubtedly, But Not Foresight.

The Spectacle Of A Field Of Battle After The Combat, Is Sufficient To Inspire Princes With The Love Of Peace, And The Horror Of War.

War Is Ninety Percent Information.

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

To Be Believed Make The Truth Unbelievable.

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

A Mathematician Of The First Rank, Laplace Quickly Revealed Himself As Only A Mediocre Administrator; From His First Work We Saw That We Had Been Deceived. Laplace Saw No Question From Its True Point Of View; He Sought Subtleties Everywhere; Had Only Doubtful Ideas, And Finally Carried The Spirit Of The Infinitely Small Into Administration.

I Have Fought Sixty Battles, And I Have Learnt Nothing Which I Did Not Know At The Beginning.

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

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.

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

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

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

Passions Change, Politics Are Immutable.

Those Who Are Free From Common Prejudices Acquire Others.

When Defending Itself Against Another Country, A Nation Never Lacks Men, But Too Often, Soldiers.

The Most Dangerous Moment Comes With Victory.

Greatest Victory

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.

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

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

If The Art Of War Were Nothing But The Art Of Avoiding Risks, Glory Would Become The Prey Of Mediocre Minds.... I Have Made All The Calculations; Fate Will Do The Rest.

For My Part, It Is Not The Mystery Of The Incarnation Which I Discover In Religion, But The Mystery Of Social Order, Which Associates With Heaven That Idea Of Equality Which Prevents The Rich From Destroying The Poor

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.

The Secret Of War Lies In The Communications.

America Is A Fortunate Country. She Grows By The Follies Of Our European Nations.

For The Stability Of The Government, The People Should Have A Considerable Voice In The Elections.

There Is A Joy In Danger.

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

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

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

Incidents Should Not Govern Policy; But, Policy Incidents.

Courage Isn't Having The Strength To Go On - It Is Going On When You Don't Have Strength.

All Things Proclaim The Existence Of God.

Existence Of God

Unhappy The General Who Comes On The Field Of Battle With A System.

Man Loves The Marvelous. It Has An Irresistible Charm For Him. He Is Always Ready To Leave That With Which He Is Familiar To Pursue Vain Inventions. He Lends Himself To His Own Deception.

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.

You Think You Are Too Intelligent To Believe In God. I Am Not Like You.

All Italians Are Plunderers.

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.]

The Gospel Is Not A Book; It Is A Living Being, With An Action, A Power, Which Invades Every Thing That Opposes Its Extension, Behold! It Is Upon This Table: This Book, Surpassing All Others. I Never Omit To Read It, And Every Day With Some Pleasure.

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

Soldiers! Forty Centuries Behold You!

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

If It Had Not Been For The English I Should Have Been Emperor Of The East, But Wherever There Is Water To Float A Ship We Are Sure To Find Them In Our Way.

Promptly Improve Your Accidents.

A Great Reputation Is A Great Noise, The More There Is Of It, And The Further Does It Swell. Land, Monuments, Nations, All Fall, But The Noise Remains, And Will Reach To Other Generations.

My Generals Are A Parcel Of Post Inspectors.

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 Only One Who Is Wiser Than Anyone Is Everyone.

The French Complain Of Everything, And Always.

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

Kiss The Feet Of Popes Provided Their Hands Are Tied.

Strangers Are Just Friends Waiting To Happen. To Become A Good Man, One Must Have Faithful Friends, Or Outright Enemies.

Bloodletting Is Among The Ingredients Of Political Medicine.

Impatience Is A Great Obstacle To Success; He Who Treats Everything With Brusqueness Gathers Nothing, Or Only Immature Fruit Which Will Never Ripen.

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

War Is 90% Information.

It Requires More Courage To Suffer Than To Die.

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

In My Youth I, Too, Entertained Some Illusions; But I Soon Recovered From Them.

My Downfall Raises Me To Infinite Heights.

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