Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes
Napoleon wrote and dictated an enormous amount: tens of thousands of letters, orders and proclamations, plus conversations recorded on Saint Helena. The quotes below come from those letters and from people who wrote down what he said. Many popular Napoleon “quotes” are later embellishments.
4 real Napoleon Bonaparte quotes, with sources
““It is not possible,” you write to me. That is not French.”Napoleon Bonaparte — Letter to General Lemarois, 9 July 1813 (Correspondance de Napoléon Ier)
“From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.”Napoleon Bonaparte — Said in Warsaw, December 1812, on the retreat from Russia, as recorded by the Abbé de Pradt (1815)
“All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give him a chance of success.”Napoleon Bonaparte — Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Passariano, 26 September 1797
“My maxim was: careers open to talent, without distinction of birth or fortune.”Napoleon Bonaparte — Conversation on Saint Helena, recorded by Barry O'Meara, Napoleon in Exile (1822)
Famous quotes Napoleon Bonaparte never said
“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”An embellished version of his letter to General Lemarois of 9 July 1813, which says only that “it is not possible” is “not French”. The “dictionary of fools” wording is a later invention.
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”No source in Napoleon's letters or recorded conversations has been found. It appears in modern quotation books without a citation.
Who was Napoleon Bonaparte?
A Corsican artillery officer who rose through the French Revolution to crown himself Emperor in 1804. His campaigns redrew the map of Europe and his Civil Code still shapes law around the world. Defeated at Waterloo in 1815, he died in exile on Saint Helena in 1821. Read more on Wikipedia.
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What is Napoleon Bonaparte's most famous quote?
One of the best known is “From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.” (Said in Warsaw, December 1812, on the retreat from Russia, as recorded by the Abbé de Pradt (1815))
Did Napoleon Bonaparte really say “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”?
No. An embellished version of his letter to General Lemarois of 9 July 1813, which says only that “it is not possible” is “not French”. The “dictionary of fools” wording is a later invention.
Did Napoleon Bonaparte really say “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”?
No. No source in Napoleon's letters or recorded conversations has been found. It appears in modern quotation books without a citation.
Where do these Napoleon Bonaparte quotes come from?
Napoleon wrote and dictated an enormous amount: tens of thousands of letters, orders and proclamations, plus conversations recorded on Saint Helena. The quotes below come from those letters and from people who wrote down what he said. Many popular Napoleon “quotes” are later embellishments.
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