Background Image

...

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.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Destiny Urges Me To

Napoleon Bonaparte

...

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.

Views: 10955

Topic

More From Napoleon Bonaparte

The Affairs Of War, Like The Destiny Of Battles, As Well As Empires, Hang Upon A Spiders Thread.

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

The More I Study The World, The More I Am Convinced Of The Inability Of Brute Force To Create Anything Durable.

Revolutions Are Good Times For Soldiers Of Talent And Courage.

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

The Laws Of Circumstance Are Abolished By New Circumstances.

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.

The Most Insupportable Of Tyrannies Is That Of Inferiors.

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

The Bible Is No Mere Book, But A Living Creature, With A Power That Conquers All That Oppose It.

The Worse The Troops The Greater The Need Of Artillery.

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.

I Made All My Generals Out Of Mud.

Men Are Led By Trifles.

A Man Is Known By His Conduct To His Wife, To His Family, And To Those Under Him.

A Man Occupied With Public Or Other Important Business Cannot, And Need Not, Attend To Spelling.

War Justifies Everything.

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.

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

It Is Neither Holy, Roman Or An Empire.

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!

The Worse The Man The Better The Soldier. If Soldiers Be Not Corrupt They Ought To Be Made So.

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

The Art Of The Police Is Not To See What It Is Useless That It Should See.

The Only True Conquests-those That Awaken No Regrets- Are Those Obtained Over Our Ignorance.

I Have Noticed In Every Campaign That I Have Fought-that There Is A Key Segment Of Time, Somewhere Between 13 And 15 Minutes In Which The Battle Is Won Or Lost. I Focus On That Segment Of Time, And I Win.

I Have Only One Counsel For You - Be Master.

God! How Men Of Letters Are Stupid.

Providence Is Always On The Side Of The Last Reserve.

Conquests Will Come And Go But Delambre's Work Will Endure.

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.

The Advance And Perfecting Of Mathematics Are Closely Joined To The Prosperity Of The Nation.

Collective Crimes Incriminate No One.

A Great European Federative System Alone Can Be Favourable To The Development Of Civilisation.

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.

Sire, I Am My Own Rudolph Of Hapsburg.

Men Are Ruled By Toys.

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

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.

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.

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

There Must Be Religion. Otherwise The Poor Would Murder The Rich.

Few Really Believe. The Most Only Believe That They Believe Or Even Make Believe.

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

The Mohammedan Religion Is The Finest Of All.

All Italians Are Plunderers.

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.

Necessity Dominates Inclination, Will, And Right.

When Firmness Is Sufficient, Rashness Is Unnecessary.

The Only Victory Over Love Is Flight.

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

In The Eyes Of Empire Builders Men Are Not Men But Instruments.

Between A Battle Lost And A Battle Won, The Distance Is Immense And There Stand Empires.

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

The Secret Of Great Battles Consists In Knowing How To Deploy And Concentrate At The Right Time.

Every Private In The French Army Carries A Field Marshall Wand In His Knapsack.

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

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.

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

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.

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

My Waking Thoughts Are All Of Thee. Your Portrait And The Remembrance Of Last Night's Delirium Have Robbed My Senses Of Repose. Sweet And Incomparable Josephine, What An Extraordinary Influence You Have Over My Heart. Are You Vexed? Do I See You Sad? Are You Ill At Ease? My Soul Is Broken With Grief, And There Is No Rest For Your Lover.

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

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

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

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

The Superior Man Is Never In Anyone's Way.

We Live And Die In The Midst Of Marvels.

In A Conquered Country Benevolence Is Not Humanitarianism. It Is A General Political Axiom That A Conqueror Must Not Inspire A Good Opinion Of His Benevolence Until He Has Demonstrated That He Can Be Severe With Malefactors.

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

What A Beautiful Fix We Are In Now; Peace Has Been Declared.

Liberty Is A Need Felt By A Small Class Of People Whom Nature Has Endowed With Nobler Minds Than The Mass Of Men;.... Consequently, It May Be Repressed With Impunity. Equality, On The Other Hand, Pleases The Masses.

The Army Is The True Nobility Of Our Country.

Passions Change, Politics Are Immutable.

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

Ability Is Of Little Account Without Opportunity. I Have Very Rarely Met With Two O'clock In The Morning Courage: I Mean Instantaneous Courage.

Nothing Is Lost As Long As Courage Remains

In Statesmanship There Are Predicaments From Which It Is Impossible To Escape Without Some Wrongdoing.

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

It Is Cowardly To Commit Suicide. The English Often Kill Themselves. It Is A Malady Caused By The Humid Climate.

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

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

The Worse The Man, The Better The Soldier.

Nothing Renders A Nation So Despicable As Religious Despotism.

Great Ambition Is The Passion Of A Great Character.

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

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.

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

Broken Promises

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.

Time Is The Great Art Of Man.

The Logical End To Defensive Warfare Is Surrender.

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

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

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

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

Men, In General, Are But Great Children.

Better To Have A Known Enemy Than A Forced Ally.

Great Men Are Never Cruel Without Necessity.

Generals Are Not To Be Too Scrupulous.

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

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

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.

I Have Never Loved Anyone For Love's Sake Except, Perhaps, Josephine - A Little.

Riches Do Not Consist In The Possession Of Treasures, But In The Use Made Of Them.

Self Improvement

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

Un Croquis Vaut Mieux Qu

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.

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

Impossible Things

Secrets Travel Fast In Paris.

Arabia Was Idolatrous When, Six Centuries After Jesus, Muhammad Introduced The Worship Of The God Of Abraham, Of Ishmael, Of Moses, And Jesus. The Ariyans And Some Other Sects Had Disturbed The Tranquility Of The East By Agitating The Question Of The Nature Of The Father, The Son, And The Holy Ghost. Muhammad Declared That There Was None But One God Who Had No Father, No Son And That The Trinity Imported The Idea Of Idolatry.

The Amateurs Discuss Tactics: The Professionals Discuss Logistics

England Would Be Better Off Without Canada; It Keeps Her In A Prepared State For War At A Great Expense And Constant Irritation.

War Is Cruel To The People, And Terrible To The Conquered.

Remember That A Man, A True Man, Never Hates. His Rages And His Bad Moods Never Last Beyond The Present Moment-like Electric Shocks.

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.

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

True Heroism Consists In Rising Superior To Misfortune.

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

I See Only My Objective - The Obstacles Must Give Way.

Public Morals Are Natural Complement Of All Laws They Are By Themselves An Entire Code.

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

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

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

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

A General Must Be A Charlatan.

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

It Is With Artillery That War Is Made.

One Must Indeed Be Ignorant Of The Methods Of Genius To Suppose That It Allows Itself To Be Cramped By Forms. Forms Are For Mediocrity, And It Is Fortunate That Mediocrity Can Act Only According To Routine. Ability Takes Its Flight Unhindered.

I Have Made Noise Enough In The World Already, Perhaps Too Much, And Am Now Getting Old, And Want Retirement.

The Only One Who Is Wiser Than Anyone Is Everyone.

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

Knowledge And History Are The Enemies Of Religion.

I Know Men, And I Tell You, Jesus Is More Than A Man. Comparison Is Impossible Between Him And Any Other Human Being Who Ever Lived, Because He Was The Son Of God.

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

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

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

There Are Only Two Forces In The World, The Sword And The Spirit. In The Long Run The Sword Will Always Be Conquered By The Spirit.

It Is An Ambassador's Duty To Stand Up For His Nation's Foreign Policy In Any Era And Under Any Government Whatsoever. Ambassadors Are, In The Full Meaning Of The Term, Titled Spies.

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

Medicines Are Only Fit For Old People.

Glory Is Fleeting, But Obscurity Is Forever.

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

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

France Will Always Be A Great Nation.

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.

Space We Can Recover; Time Never.

Procrastination

In The Last Analysis, One Must Be A Military Man In Order To Govern. It Is Only With Boot And Spurs That One Can Govern A Horse.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Nothing Makes The Future Look So Rosy As To Contemplate It Through A Glass Of Chambertin.

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.

Rascality Has Limits; Stupidity Has Not.

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

Reprisals Are But A Sad Resource.

Posterity Alone Rightly Judges Kings. Posterity Alone Has The Right To Accord Or Withhold Honors.

History Is The Invention Of Historians.

When A Man Is A Favorite Of Fortune She Never Takes Him Unawares, And, However Astonishing Her Favors May Be, She Finds Him Ready.

When Soldiers Have Been Baptized In The Fire Of A Battle-field, They Have All One Rank In My Eyes.

There Are Only Two Forces That Unite Men - Fear And Interest. All Great Revolutions Originate In Fear, For The Play Of Interests Does Not Lead To Accomplishment.

A Constitution Should Be Short And Obscure.

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

The Most Terrible Of All My Battles Was The One Before Moscow. The French Showed Themselves To Be Worthy Of Victory, But The Russians Showed Themselves Worthy Of Being Invincible.

History Is A Set Of Lies Agreed Upon.

Diplomacy Is The Police In Grand Costume.

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

Malice Delights To Blacken The Characters Of Prominent Men.

Every Beggar Shall Be Arrested. But To Arrest A Beggar Merely In Order To Put Him In Jail Would Be Barbarous And Absurd. He Should Be Arrested For The Sole Purpose Of Teaching Him How To Earn A Living By His Work.

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

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

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.

Greatness Be Nothing Unless It Be Lasting.

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.

It Is The Success Which Makes Great Men.

Congratulations

I May Be Accused Or Rashness, But Not Sluggishness.

Put Your Iron Hand In A Velvet Glove.

It Is Not By Whining That One Carries Out The Job Of King.

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.

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

Soldiers Win Battles And Generals Get The Medals.

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.

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

Men Are Never Attached To You By Favours.

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

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

Ordinarily Men Exercise Their Memory Much More Than Their Judgment.

A Commander-in-chief Cannot Take As An Excuse For His Mistakes In Warfare An Order Given By His Sovereign Or His Minister When The Person Giving The Order Is Absent From The Field Of Operations And Is Imperfectly Aware Or Wholly Unaware Of The Latest State Of Affairs. It Follows That Any Commander-in-chief Who Undertakes To Carry Out A Plan Which He Considers Defective Is At Fault; He Must Put Forward His Reasons, Insist On The Plan Being Changed, And Finally Tender His Resignation Rather Than Be The Instrument Of His Army's Downfall.

An Emperor Confides In National Soldiers, Not In Mercenaries.

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

I Like Honest Men Of All Colors.

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

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

Anarchy Is The Stepping Stone To Absolute Power.

The Greatest Danger Occurs At The Moment Of Victory

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

Trending Author

America Ferrera

Category