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Who really said it

A constitution should be short and obscure

Not Napoleon — a quip by Talleyrand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord 1754–1838 · French statesman & foreign minister
Disputed Free to reuse

Napoleon never proclaimed this as a maxim. The line comes from an 1802 exchange over a draft constitution for the Cisalpine (Italian) Republic: Napoleon’s councillor Pierre-Louis Roederer favored a very short text and was calling it ‘short and…’ when Talleyrand cut in, ‘Yes: short and obscure.’ The crisp one-liner pinned on Napoleon is a later paraphrase of that witticism, recorded in Roederer’s memoirs.

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“A constitution should be short and obscure” Misattributed to Napoleon Bonaparte — the words were Talleyrand's 1802 quip to Roederer, recorded in Roederer's Œuvres, vol. III, p. 428.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Napoleon Bonaparte. Use the credit shown above instead.

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In context

Evoking the world of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord — French diplomat & foreign minister under Napoleon. Theme: "A constitution should be short and obscure". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "A constitution should be short and obscure". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

Where the line actually comes from

Popularly credited to
Napoleon Bonaparte
Actually said by
Talleyrand (to Roederer)
Recorded in
Roederer, Œuvres, vol. III, p. 428
Occasion
Draft constitution for the Cisalpine Republic, 1802

Roederer had drawn up two plans of a constitution for the Cisalpine — one very short, leaving much to the discretion of the President, the other precise and detailed — and told Talleyrand to advise Bonaparte to adopt the former, as it was ‘short and—’ ‘Yes,’ interrupted Talleyrand, ‘short and obscure.’ The maxim vs. the anecdote

Paraphrased from Roederer’s memoirs as recounted by John Holland Rose; the popular ‘A constitution should be short and obscure’ compresses this anecdote into a maxim and reassigns it to Napoleon.

Wikiquote: Napoleon — Misattributed

How we traced it

Public domain

The documented exchange is preserved in Roederer’s Œuvres (1854) and John Holland Rose’s The Life of Napoleon I (1902), both long in the public domain in the United States. The polished maxim credited to Napoleon is a later, anonymous paraphrase with no author of record.

Fact-check

How Napoleon got the credit

The sentence reads like a cynical maxim of statecraft, so it drifted naturally toward the era’s most quotable strongman — even though the words were spoken about a constitution Napoleon was reviewing, not by him.

Napoleon Bonaparte Misattributed

Quote sites from BrainyQuote to AZQuotes print it as a bare Napoleon aphorism with no source; it appears in none of his writings or recorded remarks.

Talleyrand The real speaker

The phrase ‘short and obscure’ was Talleyrand’s sardonic completion of Roederer’s sentence, as Wikiquote documents from Roederer’s memoirs.

A witticism Talleyrand tossed off in 1802 — recorded by Roederer, not proclaimed by Napoleon — hardened over time into a fake Napoleon maxim.

Context

Why the phrase stuck

The remark captures a real strategy of the Consulate era: constitutions drafted to concentrate power by leaving key questions vague. The Constitution of the Year VIII that installed Napoleon as First Consul was famously terse and had no declaration of rights — which is why later historians could describe it as ‘short and obscure’ and why the quip found a home near Napoleon’s name.

But the specific exchange concerned a constitution for the Cisalpine (soon the Italian) Republic in 1802, and the sting belonged to Talleyrand — a courtier famous precisely for such double-edged asides.

‘Yes: short and obscure.’

The Cisalpine constitution of 1802

Roederer and Talleyrand were both advising Napoleon, then Consul, on reorganizing the sister republics of northern Italy. Roederer’s preference for a brief text that left wide latitude to the executive was exactly the sort of design the quip skewered — short on paper, elastic in practice.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Wisdom Power Simplicity

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Napoleon — Misattributeden.wikiquote.org

Lists the line as misattributed and gives the Roederer/Talleyrand origin with citation.
10 Things Napoleon Never Saidshannonselin.com

Napoleon historian debunks the quote and dates the 1802 Cisalpine exchange.
The Life of Napoleon I (full text)gutenberg.org

John Holland Rose’s 1902 biography, the English source relaying Roederer’s account.
Pierre-Louis Roedereren.wikipedia.org

The councillor whose memoirs (Œuvres) preserve the anecdote.
Constitution of the Year VIIIen.wikipedia.org

The terse, rights-free constitution often called ‘short and obscure’.
Talleyranden.wikipedia.org

Biography of the diplomat and wit who actually spoke the words.

The real source

Whose words these really are

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

1754–1838 · French diplomat & foreign minister under Napoleon

Talleyrand was the supreme survivor of French politics, serving the monarchy, the Revolution, Napoleon, and the restored Bourbons in turn. A famed wit and cynic, he was Napoleon’s foreign minister when Roederer sought his counsel on the Cisalpine constitution — and his sardonic interjection, not any pronouncement by Napoleon, is the true origin of the ‘short and obscure’ line.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Pierre-Louis Roederer, Œuvres du Comte P. L. Roederer, vol. III (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1854), p. 428; recounted in John Holland Rose, The Life of Napoleon I (London: George Bell & Sons, 1902).

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘A constitution should be short and obscure’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/a-constitution-should-be-short-and-obscure

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