Top 500 Napoleon Quotes (2023 Update)
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251. “Take a dose of medicine once, and in all probability you will be obliged to take an additional hundred afterwards.”

— Napoleon

252. “It is cowardice to commit suicide.”

— Napoleon

253. “True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.”

— Napoleon

254. “Governments keep their promises only when they are forced, or when it is to their advantage to do so.”

— Napoleon

255. “Force is the law of animals, men are ruled by conviction.”

— Napoleon

256. “Bloodletting is among the ingredients of political medicine.”

— Napoleon

257. “Friendship is but a name. I love no one.”

— Napoleon

258. “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.”

— Napoleon

259. “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.”

— Napoleon

260. “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.”

— Napoleon

261. “No amount of money will induce someone to lay down their life, but they will gladly do so for a bit of yellow ribbon.”

— Napoleon

262. “Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.”

— Napoleon

263. “Friends must always be treated as if one day they might be enemies.”

— Napoleon

264. “After making a mistake or suffering a misfortune, the man of genius always gets back on his feet.”

— Napoleon

265. “Every private in the French army carries a Field Marshall wand in his knapsack.”

— Napoleon

266. “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

— Napoleon

267. “Order marches with weighty and measured strides. Disorder is always in a hurry.”

— Napoleon

268. “If I were an Englishman, I should esteem the man who advised a war with China to be the greatest living enemy of my country. You would be beaten in the end, and perhaps a revolution in India would follow.”

— Napoleon

269. “All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before a single word: faith.”

— Napoleon

270. “God is on the side of the heaviest cannon.”

— Napoleon

271. “Secrets travel fast in Paris.”

— Napoleon

272. “Ability is of little account without opportunity. I have very rarely met with two o’clock in the morning courage: I mean instantaneous courage.”

— Napoleon

273. “Public opinion is a mysterious and invisible power, to which everything must yield. There is nothing more fickle, more vague, or more powerful; yet capricious as it is, it is nevertheless much more often true, reasonable, and just, than we imagine.”

— Napoleon

274. “Wherever wood can swim, there I am sure to find this flag of England.”

— Napoleon

275. “Tis a principle of war that when you can use the lightning, ’tis better than cannon.”

— Napoleon

276. “Patriotism is a word which represents a noble idea.”

— Napoleon

277. “Good and decent people must be protected and persuaded by gentle means, but the rabble must be led by terror.”

— Napoleon

278. “Battles are lost or won in 15 minutes.”

— Napoleon

279. “Cavalry is useful before, during, and after the battle.”

— Napoleon

280. “If you want to get on in this world make many promises, but don’t keep them.”

— Napoleon

281. “Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.”

— Napoleon

282. “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.”

— Napoleon

283. “The logical end to defensive warfare is surrender.”

— Napoleon

284. “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.”

— Napoleon

285. “We are born, we live, we die among supernatural.”

— Napoleon

286. “Why and how are words so important that they cannot be too often used.”

— Napoleon

287. “Independence, like honor, is a rocky island, without a beach.”

— Napoleon

288. “The art of being sometimes audacious and sometimes very prudent is the secret of success.”

— Napoleon

289. “If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman.”

— Napoleon

290. “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.”

— Napoleon

291. “In war as in love, to bring matters to a close, you must get close together.”

— Napoleon

292. “Public morals are natural complement of all laws they are by themselves an entire code.”

— Napoleon

293. “War must be made as intense and awful as possible in order to make it short, and thus to diminish its horrors.”

— Napoleon

294. “It strengthens the bonds between nations to have the same civil laws and the same monetary system.”

— Napoleon

295. “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.”

— Napoleon

296. “I have destroyed the enemy merely by marches.”

— Napoleon

297. “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.”

— Napoleon

298. “The allies we gain by victory will turn against us upon the bare whisper of our defeat.”

— Napoleon

299. “Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.”

— Napoleon

300. “Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.”

— Napoleon