“There are only two forces that unite men — fear and interest.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Context: 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.
“Simpletons talk of the past, wise men of the present, and fools of the future.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
“Conscience is the most sacred thing among men.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Context: Conscience is the most sacred thing among men. Every man has within him a still small voice, which tells him that nothing on earth can oblige him to believe that which he does not believe. The worst of all tyrannies is that which obliges eighteen-twentieths of a nation to embrace a religion contrary to their beliefs, under penalty of being denied their rights as citizens and of owning property, which, in effect, is the same thing as being without a country.
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Context: 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 : In His Own Words (1916)
Napoleon I of France in Précis des guerres de César, Gosselin, 1836, edited by Comte Marchand, p. 237. This work was written by Napoleon during his exile on St. Helena. Translated by Ziad Elmarsafy in The Enlightenment Qur'an http://books.google.fr/books?id=gkIKAQAAMAAJ.
Variant: Mahomet was a great man, an intrepid soldier; with a handful of men he triumphed at the battle of Bender (sic); a great captain, eloquent, a great man of state, he revived his fatherland and created a new people and a new power in the middle of Arabia.
“A man who has no consideration for the needs of his men ought never to be given command.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Letter to Sheikh El-Messiri, (28 August 1798); published in Correspondance Napoleon edited by Henri Plon (1861), Vol.4, No. 3148, p. 420
On the subject of torture, in a letter to Louis Alexandre Berthier (11 November 1798), published in Correspendance Napoleon edited by Henri Plon (1861), Vol. V, No. 3605, p. 128
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
“As a rule it is circumstances that make men.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
On awards, as quoted in Mémoires sur le Consulat. 1799 à 1804 (1827) by Antoine-Claire, Comte Thibaudeau. Chez Ponthieu, pp. 83–84. Original: "On appelle cela des hochets; eh bien! c'est avec des hochets que l'on mène les hommes… Croyez-vous que vous feríez battre des hommes par l'analyse? Jamais. Elle n'est bonne que pour le savant dans son cabinet. Il faut au soldat de la gloire, des distinctions, des récomponses."
Attributed
“I used to say of him that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men.”
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, spoken statement (2 November 1831), as quoted in Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington (1886) by Philip Henry Stanhope
About
“Parties weaken themselves by their fear of capable men.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
“He who cannot look over a battlefield with a dry eye, causes the death of many men uselessly.”
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)
Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)