Policy and morals concur in repressing pillage.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: ethics and good policy align — e.g., repressing loot and exploitation.
Thinker · 61 quotes
Napoleon quotes for UPSC
61 sourced quotes by Napoleon on leadership, courage, democracy & freedom, education & knowledge, resilience & perseverance, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.
✓ Attributions checked against Wikiquote's sourced list
As a rule it is circumstances that make men.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: circumstances shape character; role of environment.
More glorious to merit a sceptre than to possess one.
— NapoleonMemoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)
Use itGS4: merit over position — better to deserve power than to hold it.
True character stands the test of emergencies. Do not be mistaken, it is weakness from which the awakening is rude.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: true character is revealed in emergencies.
He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat.
— Napoleon
Use itLife: fear of defeat guarantees it.
Audacity succeeds as often as it fails; in life it has an even chance.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: audacity has an even chance; take the shot.
Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: courage cannot be faked; authentic virtue.
That dependable courage, which in spite of the most sudden circumstances, nevertheless allows freedom of mind, of judgment and of decision, is exceedingly rare.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: courage that keeps judgement clear under sudden pressure; crisis decision-making.
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.
— NapoleonStatement at the beginning of the 1813 campaign, as quoted in The Mind of Napoleon (1955) by J. Christopher Herold, p. 45
Use itEssay on risk: glory belongs to those who take calculated risks.
The moment of greatest peril is the moment of victory.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: complacency at the moment of victory is the greatest danger.
Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: parties weaken by fearing capable people; inner-party meritocracy.
Unhappy the general who comes on the field of battle with a system.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: rigid systems fail in crisis; flexibility in leadership.
A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: leaders must care for their team's needs.
One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4/Essay on leadership: a leader is a dealer in hope.
He who cannot look over a battlefield with a dry eye, causes the death of many men uselessly.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: emotional detachment vs compassion in command decisions.
The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: administrator should focus on issues and consequences, not personalities.
The most difficult art is not in the choice of men, but in giving to the men chosen the highest service of which they are capable.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: true leadership draws the best service from chosen people.
It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: prudence, wisdom and dexterity in achieving great ends.
A commander in chief ought to say to himself several times a day: If the enemy should appear on my front, on my right, on my left, what would I do? And if the question finds him uncertain, he is not well placed, he is not as he should be, and he should remedy it.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: contingency planning — constantly ask 'what would I do if…'.
In practical administration, experience is everything.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2/4: experience matters most in practical administration.
Sometimes a great example is necessary to all the public functionaries of the state.
— Napoleon
Use itGS4: leaders set examples for public functionaries; leading by example.
Laws which are consistent in theory often prove chaotic in practice.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: laws sound in theory may fail in practice; implementation gap.
To listen to the interests of all, marks an ordinary government; to foresee them, marks a great government.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: great governance anticipates needs rather than merely reacting.
A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.
— NapoleonStatement (1803) as quoted in The Mind of Napoleon (1955) by J. Christopher Herold
Use itGS2: governance must grow from shared historical experience to take root.
There are so many laws that no one is safe from hanging.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: over-legislation leaves nobody safe; need for legal simplification.
Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.
— NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's War Maxims: With His Social and Political Thoughts (1804-15), Gale & Polden, (1899) p. 148
Use itEssay: anarchy paves the way for authoritarianism; value of order.
What is the government? nothing, unless supported by opinion.
— Napoleon
Use itGS2: legitimacy of government rests on public opinion.
Obedience to public authority ought not to be based either on ignorance or stupidity.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: civic obedience should rest on informed consent, not ignorance.
It is not necessary to prohibit or encourage oddities of conduct which are not harmful.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: harm principle — don't regulate harmless personal conduct.
Hereditary succession to the magistracy is absurd, as it tends to make a property of it; it is incompatible with the sovereignty of the people.
— Napoleon
Use itGS2: hereditary public office violates popular sovereignty; dynastic politics.
Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on education: memory exercised more than judgement.
The true conquests, the only ones that cause no regret, are those made over ignorance.
— Napoleon(November 26, 1797) as quoted in Andrew Roberts Napoleon: A Life p. 157
Use itEssay on education: the only regret-free conquest is over ignorance.
Man achieves in life only by commanding the capabilities nature has given him, or by creating them within himself by education and by knowing how to profit by the difficulties encountered.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay: achievement through education and learning from difficulties.
In war, theory is all right so far as general principles are concerned; but in reducing general principles to practice there will always be danger. Theory and practice are the axis about which the sphere of accomplishment revolves.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay: theory and practice must go together.
The division of labor, which has brought such perfection in mechanical industries, is altogether fatal when applied to productions of the mind. All work of the mind is superior in proportion as the mind that produces it is universal.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on education: over-specialisation harms intellectual work; value of broad learning.
Commerce unites men and make them; therefore it is fatal to despotic power.
— NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's War Maxims: With His Social and Political Thoughts (1804-15), Gale & Polden, (1899) p. 150
Use itEssay: trade connects people and undermines despotism.
Peace ought to be the result of a system well considered, founded on the true interests of the different countries, honorable to each, and ought not to be either a capitulation or the result of a threat.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: peace must rest on mutual interests and honour, not threat or capitulation.
A great people may be killed, but they cannot be intimidated.
— NapoleonPolitical Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)
Use itEssay on national spirit: a great people may be killed but not intimidated.
Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others.
— NapoleonMemoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)
Use itGS4: escaping one prejudice may breed another; self-awareness of bias.
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.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on misinformation: credulity and over-generalisation as human flaws.
Fanaticism must be put to sleep before it can be eradicated.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on communalism: fanaticism must be calmed before it can be eradicated.
You cannot drag a man's conscience before any tribunal, and no one is answerable for his religious opinions to any power on earth.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS2: freedom of conscience — no one answerable for religious opinions to any power.
Malice delights to blacken the characters of prominent men.
— NapoleonMemoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)
Use itGS4: malice targets public figures; resilience to criticism.
A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than an hundred thousand bayonets.
— NapoleonAppears to be fabricated as it is not known from surviving print before 19 March 1845 when it appeared in Mississippi Democrat in an article
Use itGS2: power of the press over rulers.
What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.
— NapoleonConversation with Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases (20 November 1816), Mémorial de Sainte Hélène, v. 4, p. 251. However, the phrase predates Nap
Use itEssay on history: history as a 'fable agreed upon'; question narratives.
All men of genius, and all those who have gained rank in the republic of letters, are brothers, whatever may be the land of their nativity.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on universalism: thinkers form one brotherhood beyond nationality.
Greatness is nothing unless it be lasting.
— NapoleonPolitical Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)
Use itEssay on legacy: greatness must be lasting.
There is only one favorable moment in war; talent consists in knowing how to seize it.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: talent lies in seizing the one favourable moment.
To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, would be to be a god.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: doing all one can is what it means to be human.
All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.
— NapoleonLetter to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Passariano (26 September 1797), as quoted in Napoleon as a General (1902) by Maximilian Yorck von War
Use itLife: seize every chance; small neglect loses everything.
The word impossible is not French.
— Napoleon
Use itLife: refuse to accept the impossible.
In order not to be astonished at obtaining victories, one ought not to think only of defeats.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: expect victories by not dwelling only on defeats.
The most desirable quality in a soldier is constancy in the support of fatigue; valor is only secondary.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: endurance matters more than bravado.
How many seemingly impossible things have been accomplished by resolute men because they had to do, or die.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: resolve achieves the seemingly impossible.
Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: impatience spoils success; let things ripen.
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.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on change: lead the ideas of your time or be overwhelmed by them.
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.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itEssay on change: the skilful accept and direct events rather than resist.
The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense — he is always satisfied with himself.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: self-satisfaction as a fool's trait; growth needs self-critique.
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.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itLife: idleness and self-doubt destroy individuals and leaders.
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.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4: judge people by present actions, not appearances.
One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves; one must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.
— NapoleonNapoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Use itGS4/Life: forgive and accept human shortcomings instead of fault-finding.