It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.
— Napoleon Bonaparte
When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.
To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.
Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.
The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.
One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.
A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
With audacity one can undertake anything, but not do everything.
A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
The French complain of everything, and always.
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
The human race is governed by its imagination.
We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
I made all my generals out of mud.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
The battle of Austerlitz is the grandest of all I have fought.
I am the successor, not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne.
Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.
Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.
All religions have been made by men.
War is the business of barbarians.
Ambition never is in a greater hurry than I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.
Ability is nothing without opportunity.
Riches do not consist in the possession of treasures, but in the use made of them.
Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.
A true man hates no one.
Medicines are only fit for old people.
Imagination rules the world.
From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.
Let the path be open to talent.
I have only one counsel for you - be master.
The army is the true nobility of our country.
France has more need of me than I have need of France.
In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.
Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.
A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
In order to govern, the question is not to follow out a more or less valid theory but to build with whatever materials are at hand. The inevitable must be accepted and turned to advantage.
A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
A Constitution should be short and obscure.
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
Respect the burden.
The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man.
Water, air, and cleanness are the chief articles in my pharmacy.
The great proof of madness is the disproportion of one's designs to one's means.
I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need.
You must not fear death, my lads; defy him, and you drive him into the enemy's ranks.
