WIST

Rascality has limits; stupidity has not.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
(Attributed)

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
(Attributed)

Do you know, Fontanes, what most amazes me in the world?  The inability of force to maintain anything at all.  There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind.  In the long run, the sword is always defeated by the mind.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
(Attributed)
In Albert Camus, November 1939, Notebooks: 1935-1942 [tr. Thody (1963)]

The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemy’s.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
(Attributed)
Frequently misquoted, ungrammatically, as "... both his own and the enemies."

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
(Attributed)
Often quoted by Andrew Jackson, to whom it is also attributed.

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Memoirs of Napoleon by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (1829-1831)
Also attrib. to Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle.

In war, three quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Observations sur les affaires d’Espagne (27 Aug 1808)
Also translated: "In war, moral considerations make up three-quarters of the game; the relative balance of manpower accounts only for the remaining quarter." "Even in war moral power is to physical as three parts out of four." “Morale is to material as is the ratio of three to one.”

All great events hang by a single thread.  The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Letter to Talleyrand (26 Sep 1797)

The first qualification of a diplomat is the ability to keep silent.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Letter to Talleyrand (4 Jul 1802)

It is only one step from victory to disaster. My experience is that, in a crisis, some detail always decides the issue.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Letter to Talleyrand (7 Oct 1797)

It is only a step from victory to disaster. My experience is that, in a crisis, some detail always decides the issue.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Letter to Tallyrand (7-Oct-1797)
Napoleon's Letters, tr. J. M. Thompson, 1934

He who fears losing his reputation is sure to lose it.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor
Letter to the Executive Directory (16 Apr. 1797)
The Bonaparte Letters and Despatches, Vol II (1846), p. 299 "The Third Plan": "But he who fears to lose his glory is sure to lose it."