“One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents us from enjoying ourselves; one must recognize human shortcomings and adjust himself to them rather than to be constantly finding fault with them.”

—  Napoleon I of France

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "One must learn to forgive and not to hold a hostile, bitter attitude of mind, which offends those about us and prevents…" by Napoleon I of France?
Napoleon I of France photo
Napoleon I of France 259
French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769–1821

Related quotes

James Comey photo

“We must account for that inheritance. And we, especially those of us who enjoy the privilege that comes with being the majority, must confront the biases that are inescapable parts of the human condition. We must speak the truth about our shortcomings as law enforcement, and fight to be better. But as a country, we must also speak the truth to ourselves. Law enforcement is not the root cause of problems in our hardest hit neighborhoods. Police officers, people of enormous courage and integrity, in the main, are in those neighborhoods, risking their lives, to protect folks from offenders who are the product of problems that will not be solved by body cameras.”

James Comey (1960) American lawyer and the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

2010s, Hard Truths: Law Enforcement (2015)

Jacques Derrida photo

“We are given over to absolute solitude. No one can speak with us and no one can speak for us; we must take it upon ourselves, each of us must take it upon himself.”

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) French philosopher (1930-2004)

Source: The Gift of Death

Pope Francis photo

“Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this.”

Pope Francis (1936) 266th Pope of the Catholic Church

2010s, Address to the United States Congress

Samuel Butler photo

“We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
Clive Staples Lewis photo

“I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist

Letter (19 April 1951); published in Letters of C. S. Lewis (1966), p. 230

Samuel Beckett photo

“Memories are killing. So you must not think of certain things, of those that are dear to you, or rather you must think of them, for if you don’t there is the danger of finding them, in your mind, little by little.”

Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish novelist, playwright, and poet

The Expelled (1946)

Marcus Aurelius photo

“But if we judge only those things which are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

VI, 41
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VI

Emile Zola photo

“Existence is so bitter for every one of us! Ought we not forgive others much, my friend, if we wish to be forgiven ourselves?”

Emile Zola book Nana

Nana (1880).

Arthur Stanley Eddington photo

“We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and.”

Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944) British astrophysicist

As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) by Alan L. Mackay, p. 79

Andrei Zhdanov photo

“The new electoral system gives us a powerful tool to improve the work of the entire Soviet system, in order to eliminate bureaucratic phenomena, shortcomings and deformations in Soviet organizations. And these shortcomings are, as you know, very real. Our Party organizations must be prepared for the election campaign. In the elections, they must deal with hostile propaganda and hostile candidates.”

Andrei Zhdanov (1896–1948) Soviet politician

Zhdanov in 1937. Translated from Swedish in the article Om socialismens demokratiska erfarenheter http://www.kommunisterna.org/politik/texter/socialismens-lardomar/om-socialismens-demokratiska-erfarenheter by Anders Carlsson.

Related topics