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About this quote

What does it mean?
Having tasted command, Napoleon cannot obey again.
In plain terms
He likes power too much to follow orders.
What can you take from it?
Power is addictive and hard to relinquish.

Where it applies

  • leadership transitions
  • personal ambition

Putting it to work

  • recognizing power dynamics

Questions to consider

  • Why is power hard to give up?
  • How does command change a person?

Another view

Some leaders willingly step down.

More from Napoleon Bonaparte

  1. I believe love to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men. I believe, in short, that love does more harm than good.

    Permalink to quote #94
  2. I feel as if I am being driven towards an unknown goal. As soon as it is attained and there will no longer be any use for me, an atom will be sufficient to ann…

    Permalink to quote #96
  3. I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other. (Idea originally conceptualized by M…

    Permalink to quote #93

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