# Napoleon's most famous quotes

From the sun of Austerlitz to the forty centuries of the Pyramids: Napoleon Bonaparte's best-known lines, with the speech, letter or book they come from.

- 56 votes · 11 items
- Aug 14, 2025 · Nicolas L.
- https://even.best/en/l/4804/napoleon-s-most-famous-quotes

## Top 11

1. **Soldiers, consider that from the top of these monuments forty centuries look down upon you.** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — To his troops before the Pyramids, Egyptian campaign, July 1798.
2. **The only true conquests, the only ones that leave no regret, are those made over ignorance.** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Letter to the Directory, 18 October 1797.
3. **Men of genius are meteors destined to burn themselves out to light up their century.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Lyon Discourse (Discourse on Happiness), 1791.
4. **Let them call me what they like, they will not stop me being myself!** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — On Saint Helena, reported by Las Cases in the Memorial of Saint Helena.
5. **A society without religion is like a ship without a compass.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Address to the parish priests of Milan, 5 June 1800.
6. **I owe all my fortune and all the good I have done to my mother.** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Said on Saint Helena.
7. **My policy is to govern men as the greatest number wish to be governed.** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — To the Council of State, 1 August 1800.
8. **Behold the sun of Austerlitz!** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — To his troops before the Battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812.
9. **He who can say everything can manage to do everything.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Maxim of Napoleon reported by Balzac.
10. **In love, the only victory is flight.** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — Maxims and Thoughts.
11. **A good sketch is better than a long speech.** (-3 · ▲0 ▼3) — Maxim attributed to the Emperor.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.