I don't employ Talleyrand when I want a thing done, but only when I want to have the appearance of wanting to… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
The most constant, the most powerful, and the most generous of all my enemies. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
In tragedy great men are more truly great than in history. We see them only in the crises which unfold them. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
Men of genius are meteors destined to burn themselves out in lighting up their age. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
To write history one must be more than a man, since the author who holds the pen of this great justiciary must… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
It must be recognized that the real truths of history are hard to discover. Happily, for the most part, they are rather… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
It is in times of difficulty that great nations like great men display the whole energy of their character and become an… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
If it had not been for the English I should have been emperor of the East, but wherever there is water to… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
In these days the invention of printing, and the diffusion of knowledge, render historical calumnies a little less dangerous: truth will always… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
The nature of Christ is, I grant it, from one end to another, a web of mysteries; but this mysteriousness does not… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
All becomes easy when we follow the current of opinion; it is the ruler of the world. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
A great reputation is a great noise, the more there is of it, and the further does it swell. Land, monuments, Nations, all fall,… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
Republican despotism is more fertile in acts of tyranny, because everyone has a hand in it. — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image
My decision to destroy the authority of the blacks in Saint Domingue (Haiti) is not so much based on considerations of commerce and money,… — Napoleon Bonaparte Copy Share Image