Napoleon Bonaparte
Traced to source
5 quotes we’ve traced to Napoleon Bonaparte
“Victory belongs to the most persevering”
Attributed“Able was I ere I saw Elba”
Disputed“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever”
Disputed“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools”
Disputed“Never interfere with an enemy while he's in the process of destroying himself”
DisputedNot actually Napoleon Bonaparte
Often misattributed to Napoleon Bonaparte
Famous lines widely pinned on Napoleon Bonaparte that we’ve traced to someone else.
“A constitution should be short and obscure”
actually Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
“An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep”
actually Chabrias (as recorded by Plutarch)
“England is a nation of shopkeepers”
actually Adam Smith
“Every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack”
actually Louis XVIII of France
“Give them a whiff of grapeshot”
actually Thomas Carlyle
“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”
actually Robert J. Hanlon
On the research bench
Commonly pinned on Napoleon Bonaparte — under review
4 lines flagged as pinned on Napoleon Bonaparte and queued for a full source trace — not yet verified.
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