Sayings
What he actually said — with sources — and the famous lines that aren't his.
How this page works
Napoleon is one of the most misquoted figures in history. Every entry below carries a certainty label: Documented (in his own letters, proclamations, or will), Reported (recorded by contemporaries, no autograph), or Attributed (commonly credited, no contemporary source found). Entries with no source at all live in the misattributions section at the bottom — deliberately separated, never mixed in.
Translations are the standard English renderings; the French original is given where it is documented.
Documented — in his own hand or official acts
“Impossible is not French”
“Impossible n’est pas un mot français.”
Written to General Lemarois, 9 July 1813 — in the middle of the desperate 1813 campaign, ordering preparations he would not accept excuses for. This is the authentic version of the famous line: not bravado in the abstract, but a commander refusing to hear that something could not be done. Source: the published Correspondance de Napoléon Ier. Label: Documented.
“I wish my ashes to rest on the banks of the Seine”
“Je désire que mes cendres reposent sur les bords de la Seine, au milieu de ce peuple français que j’ai tant aimé.”
Dictated at St. Helena in April 1821, weeks before his death, in the first codicil of his will. The wish was eventually granted: his remains were returned to France in 1840. Source: the text of the will. Label: Documented.
“Soldiers, I am content with you”
“Soldats, je suis content de vous.”
The proclamation to the Grande Armée after Austerlitz, 3 December 1805 — the morning after the battle that made his legend. Official proclamations were drafted with care and printed for distribution; this is Napoleon’s public voice at its most characteristic. Source: official proclamation, 3 December 1805. Label: Documented.
To Joséphine: “I wake filled with you”
“Je me réveille plein de toi. Ton portrait et le souvenir de l’enivrante soirée d’hier n’ont laissé aucun repos à mes sens.”
From the flood of letters he wrote to Joséphine during the Italian campaign of 1796 — passionate, jealous, sometimes abject. The marriage was already strained by her infidelities; the letters are real regardless of what they reveal about the man. Source: Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, 1796 letters to Joséphine. Label: Documented.
Reported — contemporaries’ accounts
“From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down upon you”
“Soldats ! Songez que du haut de ces pyramides, quarante siècles vous contemplent !”
Addressed to the Army of Egypt before the Battle of the Pyramids, 21 July 1798. No autograph text survives; the wording comes down through the memoirs and accounts of those present, with slight variations. It is among the best-attested of his spoken battlefield lines — but “best-attested” still means reported, not documented. Label: Reported.
“What a novel is my life!”
“Quel roman que ma vie !”
Recorded by Emmanuel de Las Cases in the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène — the book of conversations at St. Helena that became the founding text of the Napoleonic legend. Las Cases is a partisan witness writing from memory, so everything in the Mémorial carries that discount — but the remark is entirely in character. Label: Reported (via Las Cases).
“From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step”
“Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas.”
Attributed to Napoleon in the aftermath of the Russian catastrophe of 1812 — the verdict of a man watching his empire dissolve. The earliest print versions appear in post-1815 memoirs and anecdote collections, not in any letter or proclamation of his. It may well be his; it cannot be proven his. Label: Attributed — no contemporary source.
“France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine”
“France, l’armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine…”
His reported last words, as recorded by General Montholon, who was at the bedside on 5 May 1821. Other witnesses gave different versions, and Montholon had his own motives. The deathbed scene at Longwood was crowded, emotional, and poorly documented — treat every version of the last words as approximate. Label: Reported (disputed).
Attributed — commonly credited, no contemporary source found
“Victory belongs to the most persevering”
“La victoire appartient au plus opiniâtre.”
One of the most quoted Napoleonic maxims — and one for which no primary document has been located in the sources checked for this site. It is commonly said to come from a letter to his brother Joseph, but the published correspondence does not yield it in that form. It survives on repetition. Label: Attributed.
“In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one”
“À la guerre, le moral est au physique comme trois est à un.”
Widely quoted, and attributed to Napoleon through Antoine-Henri Jomini’s Summary of the Art of War (1838) — Jomini served on Napoleon’s staff and claimed it as his master’s doctrine. Jomini is a real witness, but a late and self-interested one; the line is not found in Napoleon’s own writings. Label: Attributed (via Jomini).
“Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest”
Sometimes attached to Napoleon as a St. Helena remark — a cynical summary of his view of mankind. No contemporary source records him saying it; it circulates in quotation collections without provenance. Cynical enough to sound like him; that is not evidence. Label: Attributed.
The worst misattributions
These lines are routinely credited to Napoleon. None of them has any contemporary source. They are included here so they can be recognized and discarded.
- “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” The single most-shared “Napoleon quote” online. It appears in no letter, proclamation, memoir, or 19th-century source. Its actual origin is untraced — it simply accreted to his name.
- “A leader is a dealer in hope.” A staple of modern leadership books. No French original, no primary source, no contemporary witness. It is a 20th-century fabrication wearing a bicorne.
- “Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet” (variants: “…what keeps the poor from murdering the rich”). Repeated endlessly, sourced never. Napoleon had complicated, documented views on religion — the Concordat is real — but this aphorism is not among them.
- “China is a sleeping giant. Let her lie and sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” No 19th-century source. It first surfaces in 20th-century accounts, long after his death.
- “The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos.” A modern internet-era composition. Not his language, not his century.
- “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on — it is going on when you don’t have strength.” An internet motivational quote with no connection to Napoleon whatsoever.
- “An army marches on its stomach.” A genuine old military observation — but its origin is unknown, versions predate Napoleon, and nothing ties it to him specifically.
- “History is a set of lies agreed upon.” Commonly attached to Napoleon (and to several other figures). No primary source; similar phrasings predate him.
Source notes
- Documented entries rest on the Correspondance de Napoléon Ier (published letters), the official proclamations, and the text of the will. French originals are given as they appear in these sources.
- Reported entries rest on memoirs and contemporary accounts (Las Cases’s Mémorial, Montholon, Egyptian-expedition memoirs); each entry names its channel of transmission.
- Attributed entries are included because they are famous, but the label means what it says: no contemporary source was found. They should not be quoted as his without the qualifier.
- Misattributions: the criterion for inclusion here is that the line is widely credited to Napoleon while no 19th-century or contemporary source records it. If a primary source for any of them is produced, this section will be corrected — see Methodology for the correction policy.
- No quotation on this page was invented, modernized beyond standard translation, or given a source it does not have.