"You Frenchmen, not content with having robbed us of everything we held dear, have also corrupted our character. The actual condition of my country, and the impossibility of changing it, is another reason for escaping from an earth, where I am obliged to praise men from a sense of duty, whom I must hate from a sense of virtue. When I arrive in my fatherland, what attitude am I to hold—what language am I to use? A good patriot ought to die when his fatherland has ceased to exist. If the deliverance of my fellow-countrymen depended upon the death of a single man, I would go immediately and plunge the sword which would avenge my country and its violated laws into the breast of tyrants."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
'On Suicide' (May 1786), quoted in Oscar Browning, The Boyhood and Youth of Napoleon: Some Chapters on the Life of Bonaparte, 1769–1793 (1906), p. 284
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Napoleon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Napoleon
Napoléon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French military general who rose dramatically up the ranks of the French Army during the French Revolution, becoming the ruler of France as First Consul of the French Republic (11 November 1799 - 18 May 1804), and then Emperor of the French and King of Italy under the name Napoleon I (18 May 1804 - 6 April 1814, and again briefly from 20 March - 22 June 1815). He died in exile on the island of Saint Helena.
308 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Napoleon →
Related Quotes
"Il faut laver son linge sale en famille."
"From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs."
"Hand weapons were the main weapons of the ancients; it is with his short sword that the legionary conquered the world…"
"The man fitted for affairs and authority never considers individuals, but things and their consequences."
"A congress of the powers is deceit agreed on between diplomats — it is the pen of Machiavelli combined with the scimi…"
"Send me 300 francs; that sum will enable me to go to Paris. There, at least, one can cut a figure and surmount obstac…"
"It is only by prudence, wisdom, and dexterity, that great ends are attained and obstacles overcome. Without these qua…"
"My waking thoughts are all of thee. Your portrait and the remembrance of last night's delirium have robbed my senses …"
"All great events hang by a hair. The man of ability takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that can give …"
"Never depend on the multitude, full of instability and whims; always take precautions against it."