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About this quote

What does it mean?
Governments must always force some people to obey.
In plain terms
A society must use force on some of the people.
What can you take from it?
Order requires coercion of parts of the population.

Where it applies

  • writing laws
  • managing groups
  • political theory

Putting it to work

  • establishing fair rules
  • minimizing force

Questions to consider

  • Is coercion ever truly avoidable?
  • How much force is needed?

Another view

Many people obey without force.

More from Napoleon Bonaparte

  1. A picture is worth a thousand words.

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  2. A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

    Permalink to quote #50
  3. A man like me troubles himself little about the lives of a million men

    Permalink to quote #47

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