Napoleon I of France Quotes

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An army which cannot be reenforced is already defeated.

Napoleon I of France
It [the Channel] is a mere ditch, and will be crossed as soon as someone has the courage to attempt it.

Napoleon I of France
We are made weak both by idleness and distrust of ourselves. Unfortunate, indeed, is he who suffers from both. If he is a mere individual he becomes nothing; if he is a king he is lost.

Napoleon I of France
The issue of a battle is the result of an instant, of a thought. There is the advance, with its various combinations, the battle is joined, the struggle goes on a certain time, the decisive moment presents itself, a spark of genius discloses it, and the smallest body of reserves accomplish victory.

Napoleon I of France
It must be recognized that the real truths of history are hard to discover. Happily, for the most part, they are rather matters of curiosity than of real importance.

Napoleon I of France
Soldiers, from the summit of yonder pyramids forty centuries look down upon you.

Napoleon I of France
The populace judges of the power of God by the power of the priests.

Napoleon I of France
Laws which are consistent in theory often prove chaotic in practice.

Napoleon I of France
Religion is an all-important matter in a public school for girls. Whatever people say, it is the mother's safeguard, and the husband's. What we ask of education is not that girls should think, but that they should believe.

Napoleon I of France
The people must not be counted upon; they cry indifferently : "Long live the King!" and "Long live the Conspirators!" a proper direction must be given to them, and proper instruments employed to effect it.

Napoleon I of France
The great mass of society are far from being depraved; for if a large majority were criminal or inclined to break the laws, where would the force or power be to prevent or constrain them? And herein is the real blessing of civilization, because this happy result has its origin in her bosom, growing out of her very nature.

Napoleon I of France
When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

Napoleon I of France
Some revolutions are inevitable. There are moral eruptions, just as the outbreak of volcanoes are physical eruptions. When the chemical combinations which produce them are complete, the volcanic eruptions burst forth, just as revolutions do when the moral factors are in the right state. In order to foresee them the trend of ideas must be understandingly observed.

Napoleon I of France
Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.

Napoleon I of France
He who cannot look over a battlefield with a dry eye, causes the death of many men uselessly.

Napoleon I of France
To plan to reserve cavalry for the finish of the battle, is to have no conception of the power of combined infantry and cavalry charges, either for attack or for defense.

Napoleon I of France
Think of it, soldiers; from the summit of these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you.
Before the Battle of the Pyramids

Napoleon I of France
I see that everybody has lost their head since the infamous capitulation of Bailén. I realise that I must go there myself to get the machine working again.

Napoleon I of France
Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied.

Napoleon I of France
Whatever shall we do in that remote spot? Well, we will write our memoirs. Work is the scythe of time.

Napoleon I of France
Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze.

Napoleon I of France
From the top of those pyramids, forty centuries look down on you.

Napoleon I of France
Lagrange is the lofty pyramid of the mathematical sciences.

Napoleon I of France
The sciences, which have revealed so many secrets and destroyed so many prejudices, are destined to render us yet greater service. New truths, new discoveries will unveil secrets still more essential to the happiness of men — but only if we give our esteem to the scientists and our protection to the sciences.

Napoleon I of France
When you have resolved to fight a battle, collect your whole force. Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day.

Napoleon I of France
All generals, officers, and soldiers who capitulate in battle to save their own lives should be decimated.

Napoleon I of France
You are a physician, doctor. You would promise life to a corpse if he could swallow pills.

Napoleon I of France
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!

Napoleon I of France
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.

Napoleon I of France
Medicine is not an exact and positive science but a science based on conjectures and observations. I would have more confidence in a physician who has not studied the natural sciences than in one who has.

Napoleon I of France