THE VISION OF NAPOLEON

FATE

There are things written in the great book of destiny that must be accomplished whatever one does.

All great events hang by a single thread.I have made all the calculations:  fate will do the rest.

I feel myself driven towards an end that I do not know.  As soon as I have reached it, as soon as I shall become unecessary, an atom will suffice to shatter me.  Until then, all the forces of mankind can do nothing to stop me. 

AMBITION

All my life I have sacrificed everything - comfort, self-interest, happiness - to my destiny.

I felt that I could abandon myself to the most brilliant dreams.

I am not made for pleasure.

You can ask of me anything you wish except of my time.

THE NEED FOR DICTATORSHIP

Nothing is so important in war as an undivided command.  There should be only one army conducted by one chief.

A nation must have a religion, and that religion must be under the control of the government.

The same consequences which have uniformly attended long discussions and councils of war will follow at all times.  They will terminate in the adoption of the worst course, which in war is always the most timid, or, if you will, the most prudent.  The only true wisdom in a general is determined courage.

An army should have but a single line of operations which it should carefully preserve, and should abandon only when compelled by imperious circumstances.

GLORY

These three things you must always keep in mind: concentration of strength, activity, and a firm resolve to perish gloriously... Death is nothing.  However, to live defeated and without glory is to die every day.