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I Love Power. But It Is As An Artist That I Love It. I Love It As A Musician Loves His Violin, To Draw Out Its Sounds And Chords And Harmonies.

-Napoleon Bonaparte

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I Love Power. But

Napoleon Bonaparte

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I Love Power. But It Is As An Artist That I Love It. I Love It As A Musician Loves His Violin, To Draw Out Its Sounds And Chords And Harmonies.

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

In War, As In Politics, No Evil - Even If It Is Permissible Under The Rules - Is Excusable Unless It Is Absolutely Necessary. Everything Beyond That Is A Crime.

Man, Not Men, Is The Most Important Consideration.

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

Wine Is Inspiring And Adds Greatly To The Joy Of Living.

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

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.

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.

Conscription Is The Vitality Of A Nation, The Purification Of Its Morality, And The Real Foundations Of All Its Habits

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

Men, In General, Are But Great Children.

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.

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.

There Is No Real Force Without Justice.

I Have Destroyed The Enemy Merely By Marches.

A Victorious General Must Know How To Employ Severity, Justness, And Mildness By Turns, If He Would Allay Sedition Or Prevent It.

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

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

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.

Occupation Is The Scythe Of Time.

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

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

True Heroism Consists In Rising Superior To Misfortune.

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

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

Anarchy Is The Stepping Stone To Absolute Power.

Never Tell Your Enemy He Is Doing The Wrong Thing.

A True Man Hates No One.

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.

The Worse The Man, The Better The Soldier.

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

That Man Made Me Miss My Destiny.

The Amateurs Discuss Tactics: The Professionals Discuss Logistics

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

The Greater The Man, The Less Is He Opinionative, He Depends Upon Events And Circumstances.

An Emperor Confides In National Soldiers, Not In Mercenaries.

The Allies We Gain By Victory Will Turn Against Us Upon The Bare Whisper Of Our Defeat.

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

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

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

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

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

The True Policy Of Government Is To Make Use Of Aristocracy, But Under The Forms And In The Spirit Of Democracy.

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.

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

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

There Is No Such Thing As Accident; It Is Fate Misnamed.

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.

To Be Believed Make The Truth Unbelievable.

Knowledge And History Are The Enemies Of Religion.

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.

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

To Have Good Soldiers, A Nation Must Always Be At War.

I Have Only One Counsel For You - Be Master.

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

France Will Always Be A Great Nation.

In War The Simplest Manoeuvres Are The Best.

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 Logical End To Defensive Warfare Is Surrender.

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.

The Heart Of A Statesman Should Be In His Head.

There Shall Be No Alps.

It Is The Business Of Cavalry To Follow Up The Victory, And To Prevent The Beaten Army From Rallying.

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.

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.

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.

All Things Proclaim The Existence Of God.

Existence Of God

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

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.

He Who Knows How To Flatter Also Knows How To Slander.

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.

Fools Have A Great Advantage Over The Wise; They Are Always Self-satisfied.

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

It Is With Artillery That War Is Made.

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

There Is No Such Thing As An Accident, Only A Failure To Recognise The Hand Of Fate

True Wisdom, In General, Consists In Energetic Determination.

The Bullet That Will Kill Me Is Not Yet Cast.

If Obedience Is The Result Of The Instinct Of The Masses, Revolt Is The Result Of Their Thought.

The Greatest Danger Occurs At The Moment Of Victory

Nothing Renders A Nation So Despicable As Religious Despotism.

Power Is Founded Upon Opinion.

There Are Two Levers For Moving Men - Interest And Fear.

Let Her Sleep, For When She Wakes, She Will Shake The World.

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

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!

Success Is The Most Convincing Talker In The World.

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

There Is A Joy In Danger.

God Is On The Side With The Best Artillery

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

Wherever Flowers Cannot Be Reared, There Man Cannot Live.

Imagination Rules The World.

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

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

I Make My Battle Plans From The Spirit Of My Sleeping Soldiers

Providence Is Always On The Side Of The Last Reserve.

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

I Hope Before Long To Press You In My Arms And Shall Shower On You A Million Burning Kisses As Under The Equator.

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 Future Destiny Of A Child Is Always The Work Of The Mother

War Is The Business Of Barbarians.

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.

A Throne Is Only A Bench Covered With Velvet.

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

A Celebrated People Lose Dignity Upon A Closer View.

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

The Army Is The True Nobility Of Our Country.

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

It Is Exceptional And Difficult To Find In One Man All The Qualities Necessary For A Great General.

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.

The Art Of Choosing Men Is Not Nearly So Difficult As The Art Of Enabling Those Chosen To Attain Their Full Worth.

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

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

The Nature Of Christ Is, I Grant It, From One End To Another, A Web Of Mysteries; But This Mysteriousness Does Not Correspond To The Difficulties Which All Existence Contains. Let It Be Rejected, And The Whole World Is An Enigma; Let It Be Accepted, And We Possess A Wonderful Explanation Of The History Of Man.

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

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

The Worse The Troops The Greater The Need Of Artillery.

War Is A Serious Game In Which A Man Risks His Reputation, His Troops, And His Country. A Sensible Man Will Search Himself To Know Whether Or Not He Is Fitted For The Trade.

Soldiers Win Battles And Generals Get The Medals.

In War, As In Love, We Must Come Into Contact Before We Triumph.

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

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

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

Better Live A King, Than A Prince.

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

The Strong Are Good, Only The Weak Are Wicked.

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

Religion Is Excellent Stuff For Keeping Common People Quiet.

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

Generals Are Not To Be Too Scrupulous.

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

The Human Race Is Governed By Its Imagination.

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

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 Made All The Calculations; Fate Will Do The Rest.

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

Without Cavalry, Battles Are Without Result.

My True Glory Is Not To Have Won 40 Battles ... Waterloo Will Erase The Memory Of So Many Victories, ... But ... What Will Live Forever, Is My Civil Code.

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

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

Moses Has Revealed The Existence Of God To His Nation. Jesus Christ To The Roman World, Muhammad To The Old Continent.

Each State Claims The Right To Control Interests Foreign To Itself When Those Interests Are Such That It Can Control Them Without Putting Its Own Interests In Danger. ... Other Powers Only Recognize This Right Of Intervening In Proportion As The Country Doing It Has The Power To Do It.

Nothing Is Lost As Long As Courage Remains

History Is A Set Of Lies Agreed Upon.

Lack Is More In Means, Than In Principles.

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

What Is History But A Fable Agreed Upon?

Writing History

Leave The Artillerymen Alone, They Are An Obstinate Lot.

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

Public Opinion Is The Thermometer A Monarch Should Constantly Consult.

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.

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

Soldiers Generally Win Battles; Generals Get Credit For Them.

He Who Is Unmoved By Tears Has No Heart.

Military Despotism Represses Generous Sentiments, Priestly Tyranny Stifles Them.

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

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

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

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

There Is No Strength Without Justice.

Necessity Dominates Inclination, Will, And Right.

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.

Jesus Chris Was More Than Man.

Prussia Was Hatched From A Cannon-ball.

What I Have Done Up To This Is Nothing. I Am Only At The Beginning Of The Course I Must Run. Do You Imagine That I Triumph In Italy In Order To Aggrandise The Pack Of Lawyers Who Form The Directory, And Men Like Carnot And Barras? What An Idea!

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

To Do All That One Is Able To Do, Is To Be A Man; To Do All That One Would Like To Do, Is To Be A God.

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

Ability Is Nothing Without Opportunity.

Half Of The People In The World Are Below Average.

Never Awake Me When You Have Good News To Announce, Because With Good News Nothing Presses; But When You Have Bad News, Arouse Me Immediately, For Then There Is Not An Instant To Be Lost.

Greatness Be Nothing Unless It Be Lasting.

I Generally Had To Give In.

Charges Of Cavalry Are Equally Useful At The Beginning, The Middle And The End Of A Battle. They Should Be Made Always, If Possible, On The Flanks Of The Infantry, Especially When The Latter Is Engaged In Front.

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

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.

Better To Have An Open Enemy, Than Hidden Friends.

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

I Engage And After That I See What To Do.

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.

Good And Decent People Must Be Protected And Persuaded By Gentle Means, But The Rabble Must Be Led By Terror.

A Portion Of The Multitude Must Ever Be Coerced.

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

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

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

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

Promptly Improve Your Accidents.

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

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

He Is Almost A Statesman. He Lies Well.

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

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 Believe Love To Be Hurtful To Society, And To The Individual Happiness Of Men. I Believe, In Short, That Love Does More Harm Than Good.

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

Kiss The Feet Of Popes Provided Their Hands Are Tied.

When Firmness Is Sufficient, Rashness Is Unnecessary.

Passions Change, Politics Are Immutable.

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

The Laws Of Circumstance Are Abolished By New Circumstances.

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