The Mind of Napoleon Quotes

“The love of glory is like the bridge that Satan built across Chaos to pass from Hell to Paradise: glory links the past with the future across a bottomless abyss. Nothing to my son, except my name!”
― Napoleon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“The great majority of men attend to what is necessary only when they feel a need for it—the precise time when it is too late”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“[Conversation with Lucien, December 1807] It makes you laugh to see me in
love. Yes, I am indeed in love, but always subordinately to my policy”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“[Letter, 1813] It is my fate that I should be betrayed again and again by
the horrible ingratitude of the people to whom I have shown the most kindness.


[Conversation, 1817] Isn’t it true, Gourgaud, that it’s a lucky thing to be
selfish, unfeeling? If you were, you wouldn’t worry about the fate of your
mother or your sister, would you?”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“[Letter, 1808] The masses gladly take revenge for the honors they render us.”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“Destiny must be fulfilled— that is my chief doctrine.”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men. To have lived without glory, without leaving a trace of existence, is not to have lived at all.”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

“Conversation, c. 1805] Josephine is always afraid I might seriously fall in
love. It seems she doesn’t know that love is not made for me. Indeed, what is
love? A passion that puts the whole universe to one side in order to see nothing,
to allow nothing on the other side but the object of one’s love. And surely it isn’t
in my nature to let myself go to such exclusiveness. Then why is she concerned
over pastimes that do not in the least engage my feelings?”
― Napoléon Bonaparte, The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words