“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
A variant wording of this quotation is Men will risk their lives, even die for ribbons. In both forms, no primary source has been identified.
This quote is commonly attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but I have not been able to locate a primary source. Use with caution in academic or professional contexts.
“That is just it, work is my element; I was born and made for it. I have found the limits of my legs; I have found the limits of my eyes; but I have never been able to find the limits of my labour.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Secondary source“Everything tells me I shall succeed.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Primary source“Imagination rules the world.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Secondary source“There is nothing in war, which I cannot do by my own hands. If there is nobody to make gunpowder, I can manufacture it. The guncarriages I know how to construct. If it is necessary to make cannons at the forge, I can make them. The details of working them in battle, if it is necessary to teach, I shall teach them. In administration, it is I alone who have arranged the finances, as you know.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte DisputedMore quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte →
“This is a time for action—not for war, but for mobilization of every bit of peace machinery.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt Primary source“We can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough.”
— Helen Keller Disputed“Wish not so much to live long as to live well.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“’Tis easy to see, hard to foresee.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source