29 Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes on Politics

Napoleon Bonaparte quotes on politics

4. I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Quran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness.

5. A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root.

8. What is a throne? - a bit of wood gilded and covered in velvet. I am the state- I alone am here the representative of the people. Even if I had done wrong you should not have reproached me in public-people wash their dirty linen at home. France has more need of me than I of France.

12. Unite for the public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.

20. Muhammad was a great man, fearless soldier; with a handful of men he triumphed at the battle of Badr, great captain, eloquent, a great man of state, it regenerated his homeland, and created in the middle of the deserts of Arabia a new people and a new power.

25. Among so many conflicting ideas an so many different perspectives, the honest man is confused and distressed and the skeptic becomes wicked ... Since one must take sides, one might as well choose the side that is victorious, the side which devastates, loots, and burns. Considering the alternative, it is better to eat than to be eaten.

27. Kiss the feet of Popes provided their hands are tied

32. A constitution should be framed so as not to impede the action of government, nor force the government to its violation.

33. A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people.

37. A King should sacrifice the best affections of his heart for the good of his country; no sacrifice should be above his determination.

42. You cannot treat with all the world at once.

61. Authoritarian government required to speak, is silent... Representative government required to speak, lies with impunity.

82. Frenchmen know not how to conspire.

93. 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 Machiavelli in The Prince)

99. I have not come to you except for the purpose of restoring your rights from the hands of the oppressors... (motivation for invading Egypt in 1798)

111. If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

116. In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

122. It is the province of honest men to enlighten the government.

133. Now we are in a fix. Peace has been declared.

139. Power is founded on opinion.

141. Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

151. Stupidity is not a handicap in politics.

155. The allies we gain by victory, will turn against us upon the bare whisper of our defeat.

156. The aristocracy has the advantage of concentrating the power of Government into less dangerous hands than those of the ignorant multitude.

164. The heart of a minister should be nowhere but in his head.

172. The revolution is over. I am the Revolution

190. To seduce a wife from her husband, or a son from his father, are odious acts, unworthy of civilised nations.

208. A constitution should be short and obscure.

210. In early life he may have been a sincere republican; but he hated anarchy and disorder, and, before his campaign in Italy was over, he had begun to plan to make himself ruler of France. He worked systematically to transform the people's earlier ardor for liberty into a passion for military glory and plunder.