#napoleon

Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great military emperor was not a washbuckler, and had little respect for tradition. Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army, runs through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of their fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the years of universal carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable. The names of the two officers were Feraud and D'Hubert, and they were both lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment. [The duel] ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#napoleon #diet

I guess the real reason that my wife and I had children is the same reason that Napoleon had for invading Russia: it seemed like a good idea at the time. ↗

— Bill Cosby

#good #good idea #guess #had #i

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. ↗

— Salvador Dali

#ambition #been #cook #ever #growing

Women rule the world. It's not really worth fighting because they know what they're doing. Ask Napoleon. Ask Adam. Ask Richard Burton or Richie Sambora. Many a man has crumbled. ↗

— Jon Bon Jovi

#ask #because #burton #doing #fighting

I will not become a Napoleon nor an Alexander, and labour for my own ambition; but I will labour for freedom and for the moral well-being of man. ↗

— Lajos Kossuth

#ambition #become #freedom #i #labour

Howard Hughes was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it. ↗

— Ted Morgan

#afford #army #hires #howard #howard hughes

When Henry Ford decided to produce his famous V-8 motor, he chose to biuld an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block, and instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The design was placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-cylinder engine-block in one piece. Ford replied,''Produce it anyway. ↗

— Henry Ford

#think-and-grow-rich #design

He always applied all his means, all his faculties, all his attention to the action or discussion of the moment, into everything he put passion. Hence the enormous advantage he had over his adversaries, for few people are entirely absorbed by one thought, or one action at one moment. ↗

— Caulaincourt on Napoleon

#inspiration #napoleon-boneparte #passion #thought #inspirational

Music is what tell us that the human race is greater than we realize. ↗

— Napoleon Bonaparte

#music #napoleon #music

Even Napoleon had his Watergate. ↗

— Yogi Berra

#had #his #napoleon #watergate