“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“Imagination rules the world.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Secondary source“Everything tells me I shall succeed.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Primary source“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte DisputedMore quotes by Napoleon Bonaparte →
“War is a lottery in which nations ought to risk nothing but small amounts.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte Disputed“If you know that this life is all that you have, wouldn’t you make the most of it?”
— Ayn Rand Disputed“To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“Spanish girls make wonderful wives. I’ve never had one so I know.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source