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Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.He was born Napoleone Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest Italian family from minor nobility. He was serving as an artillery officer in the French army when the French Revolution erupted in 1789. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the military, seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution and becoming a general at age 24. The French Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed the 13 Vendémiaire revolt against the government from royalist insurgents. At age 26, he began his first military campaign against the Austrians and the Italian monarchs aligned with the Habsburgs—winning virtually every battle, conquering the Italian Peninsula in a year while establishing "sister republics" with local support, and becoming a war hero in France. In 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He orchestrated a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, Napoleon turned his attention to France's colonies. He sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States, and he attempted to restore slavery to the French Caribbean colonies. However, while he was successful in restoring slavery in the eastern Caribbean, Napoleon failed in his attempts to subdue Saint-Domingue, and the colony that France once proudly boasted of as the "Pearl of the Antilles" became independent as Haiti in 1804. Napoleon's ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and he became the first Emperor of the French in 1804. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched his Grande Armée deep into Eastern Europe and annihilated the Russians in June 1807 at the Battle of Friedland. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high-water mark of the French Empire. In 1809, the Austrians and the British challenged the French again during the War of the Fifth Coalition, but Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after triumphing at the Battle of Wagram in July.

Napoleon then occupied the Iberian Peninsula, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, and declared his brother Joseph Bonaparte the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies against Napoleon. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. The Russians were unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade and routinely violated the Continental System, enticing Napoleon into another war. The French launched a major invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The campaign destroyed Russian cities, but did not yield the decisive victory Napoleon wanted. It resulted in the collapse of the Grande Armée and inspired a renewed push against Napoleon by his enemies. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in the War of the Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, but his tactical victory at the minor Battle of Hanau allowed retreat onto French soil. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, and the Bourbon dynasty was restored to power. Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51.

Napoleon's influence on the modern world brought liberal reforms to the numerous territories that he conquered and controlled, such as the Low Countries, Switzerland, and large parts of modern Italy and Germany. He implemented fundamental liberal policies in France and throughout Western Europe. His Napoleonic Code has influenced the legal systems of more than 70 nations around the world. British historian Andrew Roberts states: "The ideas that underpin our modern world—meritocracy, equality before the law, property rights, religious toleration, modern secular education, sound finances, and so on—were championed, consolidated, codified and geographically extended by Napoleon. To them he added a rational and efficient local administration, an end to rural banditry, the encouragement of science and the arts, the abolition of feudalism and the greatest codification of laws since the fall of the Roman Empire". Wikipedia  

✵ 15. August 1769 – 5. May 1821   •   Other names Bonaparte Napoleon I.
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Napoleon I of France: 259   quotes 280   likes

Napoleon I of France Quotes

“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.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Question , Appearance , Time

“What are the conditions that make for the superiority of an army? Its internal organization, military habits in officers and men, the confidence of each in themselves; that is to say, bravery, patience, and all that is contained in the idea of moral means.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Men , Confidence , Idea , Patience

“War is a serious game in which a man risks his reputation, his troops, and his country. A sensible man will search himself to know whether or not he is fitted for the trade.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

War , Search , Game , Country

“Imagination governs the world.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

World , Imagination

“My maxim was, la carrière est ouverte aux talents, without distinction of birth or fortune.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement while on St. Helena (3 March 1817)

Birth

“I don't know why, but the little bastard scares me.”

Napoleon I of France

Laura Harrington http://www.laura-harrington.com/index4.html, in N http://www.pilgrimtheatre.org/performances/N/default.htm, portraying a comment by one of his generals when he showed up to command the army of Italy.
About

“Women are nothing but machines for producing children.”

Napoleon I of France

The St. Helena Journal of General Baron Gourgaud (9 January 1817); as quoted in The St. Helena Journal of General Baron Gourgaud, 1815-1818 : Being a Diary written at St. Helena during a part of Napoleon's Captivity (1932) as translated by Norman Edwards, a translation of Journal de Sainte-Hélène 1815-1818 by General Gaspard Gourgaud

Women , Children

“Charity and alms are recommended in every chapter of the Koran as being the most acceptable services, both to God and the Prophet.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

God

“What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.”

Napoleon I of France

Conversation with Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases (20 November 1816), Mémorial de Sainte Hélène, v. 4, p. 251 http://books.google.com/books?id=945jAAAAMAAJ&vq=%22fable%20agreed%20upon%22&pg=PA251. However, the phrase predates Napoleon. Helvétius attributes it to Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, De l'esprit (1758), p. 443 http://books.google.com/books?id=N7g8AAAAcAAJ&vq=%22fable%20convenue%22&pg=RA1-PA443

Truth , History

“The existence of God is attested by everything that appeals to our imagination. And if our eye cannot reach Him it is because He has not permitted our intelligence to go so far.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

God , Imagination , Intelligence

“A book in which there were no lies would be a curiosity.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Books

“Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied.”

Napoleon I of France

Memoirs of Napoleon (1829-1831)

Kiss

“France is invaded; I am leaving to take command of my troops, and, with God's help and their valor, I hope soon to drive the enemy beyond the frontier.”

Napoleon I of France

Statement at Paris (23 January 1814)

God , Hope , Help

“On s'engage, et puis… on voit. ”

Napoleon I of France

“The Emperor is mad, completely mad, and will destroy us all; this will all end in some horrible crash.”

Napoleon I of France

About

Madness

“There is no subordination with empty stomachs.”

Napoleon I of France

As attributed in Count Emmanuel de Las Cases, “Journal of the Private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena”, 1824.
Attributed

“Hand weapons were the main weapons of the ancients; it is with his short sword that the legionary conquered the world. It is with the Macedonian lance that Alexander conquered Asia.”

Napoleon I of France

Precis des Guerres Cesar Das Napoleon I

World

“Napoleon, far more Italian than French, Italian by race, by instinct, imagination, and souvenir, considers in his plan the future of Italy, and, on casting up the final accounts of his reign, we find that the net profit is for Italy and the net loss is for France. Since Theodoric and the Lombard kings, the Pope, in preserving his temporal sovereignty and spiritual omnipotence, has maintained the sub-divisions of Italy; let this obstacle be removed and Italy will once more become a nation. Napoleon prepares the way, and constitutes it beforehand by restoring the Pope to his primitive condition, by withdrawing from him his temporal sovereignty and limiting his spiritual omnipotence, by reducing him to the position of managing director of Catholic consciences and head minister of the principal cult authorized in the empire.”

Napoleon I of France

Hippolyte Taine in Napoleon's views on religion.
About, Other
Source: Archive https://archive.org/stream/jstor-25102177/25102177_djvu.txt

Way , Loss , Imagination , Future

“All authority is in the throne; and what is the throne? This wooden frame covered with velvet? No, I am the throne.”

Napoleon I of France

Address to the Legislative Body (December 1813) https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Napoleon%27s_Addresses/Part_V#Address_to_the_Legislative_Body,_December,_1813.; he here echoes the remark attributed to Louis XIV L'état c'est moi ( "The State is I" or more commonly: "I am the State.")

“The hand that gives is above the hand that takes.”

Napoleon I of France

Italian saying, quoted by Bonaparte during the first Italian campaign to highlight the financial dependence of the Directoire on the plunder from the Army of Italy, according to Lucian S. Regenbogen, Napoléon a dit : aphorismes, citations et opinions, p. 82.
Attributed
Original: La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.

“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

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Time , Victory , Decision

“There is a joy in danger.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Joy

“In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Art

“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.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Strong

“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.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Soul , Truth , Men

“What are we? What is the future? What is the past? What magic fluid envelops us and hides from us the things it is most important for us to know? We are born, we live, and we die in the midst of the marvelous.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Past , Future

“It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qualities nothing succeeds.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Wisdom

“One must indeed be ignorant of the methods of genius to suppose that it allows itself to be cramped by forms. Forms are for mediocrity, and it is fortunate that mediocrity can act only according to routine. Ability takes its flight unhindered.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

“There are only two forces that unite men — fear and interest. All great revolutions originate in fear, for the play of interests does not lead to accomplishment.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Men , Fear

“If you make everything difficult, the really hard things seem less so.”

Napoleon I of France

With Napoleon in Russia: The Memoirs of General De Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza

“Two of my Marshalls are racing to get under their orders the Italian troops; i leave it to Suchet who has better ambitions than Macdonald. The Italians will soon be recognized again as the first soldiers of Europe. I'm very proud of my brave Italian army.”

Napoleon I of France

Cited in De Laugier, Vicissitudes of the Italian people from 1801 to 1815, to. X, Firenze, 1836, p. 43 – Aless. Zanoli, About the Italian army, historical-statistical outline from 1796 to 1814, vol. II, Milano, 1845, p. 145.

“Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.”

Napoleon I of France

Source: Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's War Maxims: With His Social and Political Thoughts (1804-15), Gale & Polden, (1899) p. 148

“What I have done up to this is nothing. I am only at the beginning of the course I must run. Do you imagine that I triumph in Italy in order to aggrandise the pack of lawyers who form the Directory, and men like Carnot and Barras? What an idea!”

Napoleon I of France

As quoted in Memoirs of Count Miot de Melito (1788 - 1815) as translated by Frances Cashel Hoey and John Lillie (1881), Vol. II, p. 94

Imagination , Idea , Men

“Commerce unites men and make them; therefore it is fatal to despotic power.”

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's War Maxims: With His Social and Political Thoughts (1804-15), Gale & Polden, (1899) p. 150

Men

“The Princes of this house of abandoned their capital. Not like soldiers of Honor who cede to the circumstances and set backs of the war, but like the perjured, who are persued by their own remorse.”

Napoleon I of France

Andrew Roberts.

Housing , War

“Where do you think you are going? Can’t you see that the battle is won? Come on, stand firm!”

Napoleon I of France

During the final stages of the Battle of Lutzen

Thinking

“From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.”

Napoleon I of France

Speaking about troubles in the invasions of Russia (10 December 1812), as recorded by Abbé du Pradt, and quoted in History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, Vol. 3 (1842) by Sir Archibald Alison, p. 593
Variant translations:
There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.