“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
Quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Success. No primary Napoleonic source has been identified, and it should be treated as an attribution reported by Emerson.
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“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte DisputedMore quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte →
“When it is useful to them, men can believe a theory of which they know nothing more than its name.”
— Vilfredo Pareto Primary source“War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed“Nothing so popular as goodness.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source