“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; whilst the less able man sometimes loses everything by neglecting a single one of those chances.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Sometimes attributed to a letter of 26 Sept. 1797 (Passariano), following Napoleon as a General (1902) by Maximilian Yorck von Wartenburg. The letter in question contains no such passage, and the wording likely derives from later compilations such as Soullier’s Maximes et pensées de Napoléon (1832).
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 →
“It is better to take many injuries, than to give one.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Starting out behind is sometimes an advantage.”
— Bill Gates Primary source“Impatience is a great obstacle to success; he who treats everything with brusqueness gathers nothing, or only immature fruit which will never ripen.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed