Ability is nothing without opportunity.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The bullet that will kill me is not yet cast.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Wherever wood can swim, there I am sure to find this flag of England.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
What I have done up to this is nothing. I am only at the beginning of the course I must run.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Unite for the public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
A great people may be killed, but they cannot be intimidated.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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 Bonaparte
Greatness is nothing unless it be lasting.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The superior man is never in anyone's way.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Imagination governs the world.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Ordinarily men exercise their memory much more than their judgment.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Conscience is the most sacred thing among men.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
It is often in the audacity, in the steadfastness, of the general that the safety and the conservation of his men is found.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
There is only one favorable moment in war; talent consists in knowing how to seize it.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Courage cannot be counterfeited. It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Fanaticism must be put to sleep before it can be eradicated.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
One can lead a nation only by helping it see a bright outlook. A leader is a dealer in hope.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The fool has one great advantage over a man of sense - he is always satisfied with himself.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Whatever misanthropists may say, ingrates and the perverse are exceptions in the human species.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Never depend on the multitude, full of instability and whims; always take precautions against it.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Success is the most convincing talker in the world.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The superior man is never in anyone's way.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The word impossible is not French.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Whatever shall we do in that remote spot? Well, we will write our memoirs. Work is the scythe of time.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
I generally had to give in.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
