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The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words
Book by Napoleon, Herold, J. Christopher
322 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1955
About the author
Napoléon Bonaparte
1,670 books558 followersNapoleon I, originally Napoleon Bonaparte and known as "the Little Corporal," a brilliant strategist, overthrew the directory in 1799 and was proclaimed first consul and later Emperor of the French and king of Italy from 1804. His military and political might gripped Continental Europe, but after a disastrous campaign in Russia in winter 1812, he was forced to abdicate in 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba, he escaped and briefly regained power before ultimately being defeated at Waterloo in 1815. He was then exiled to Saint Helena, where he died of cancer in 1821.
Trained in mainland as an artillery officer, he rose to prominence as a general of the revolution and led several successes against the arrayed coalitions. In late 1799, Napoleon staged a coup d'état and installed for five years. In the decade of the 19th century, he turned the armies and dominated almost everyone through extensive alliance systems and a lengthy streak of major victories, epitomized through battles, such as Austerlitz and Friedland. He appointed close friends and several members of his family as monarchs and important government figures of dominated states.
Napoleon developed relatively few innovations, although virtually all large modern armies accept his doctrines that placed artillery into batteries and elevated the corps as the standard unit. From a variety of sources, he drew his best tactics, and he scored several major victories with a modernized army. Academies over the world study this widely regarded greatest commander of history. Aside from achievements, people also remember Napoleon for the establishment that laid the bureaucratic foundations for the modern state.
Trained in mainland as an artillery officer, he rose to prominence as a general of the revolution and led several successes against the arrayed coalitions. In late 1799, Napoleon staged a coup d'état and installed for five years. In the decade of the 19th century, he turned the armies and dominated almost everyone through extensive alliance systems and a lengthy streak of major victories, epitomized through battles, such as Austerlitz and Friedland. He appointed close friends and several members of his family as monarchs and important government figures of dominated states.
Napoleon developed relatively few innovations, although virtually all large modern armies accept his doctrines that placed artillery into batteries and elevated the corps as the standard unit. From a variety of sources, he drew his best tactics, and he scored several major victories with a modernized army. Academies over the world study this widely regarded greatest commander of history. Aside from achievements, people also remember Napoleon for the establishment that laid the bureaucratic foundations for the modern state.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 14, 2013
This is a compilation of quotes supposedly attributed to Napoleon, they are all taken completely out of context, and rearranged in generic themes. The author, like many other authors of Napoleon, think its ok to sit back in their studies and critique one of the greatest men that ever lived. If J. Christopher Herold read just a little about the history of Napoleon, he might have noticed that Bourrienne, Napoleon's private secretary, stole from the treasury and was fired. He then became an avid critique of Napoleon, supported the Royalist movement, and wrote a scathing memoir about Napoleon shortly before entering an insane asylum. Sorry if I find these "quotes" attributed to Napoleon, recorded by the likes of Bourrienne, doubtful. This was a time of political warfare, there are countless accounts of royalists trying to portray Napoleon as a despot for their own self-aggrandizement, but I have no idea why historians still consider them historically accurate.
March 22, 2008
Nowadays, few realize how tersely eloquent and psychologically astute Napoleon was. This book demonstrates that he was a lucid, if deeply cynical, political thinker greatly influenced by Machiavelli and all of the ancient Greek and Roman historians.
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June 11, 2012With only basic knowledge of Napoleon, and the presence of his enigma, I was captured by the spirit and eloquence in his writing. Even through translation there is poetry in his writing, and the human experience is represented poignantly and unforgivingly in his deeply personal memoirs. Moving.
August 25, 2021
This is a table-talk style piece. A pointillist way of getting to know the man, as journal entries, correspondence fragments, newspaper clippings, second-hand anecdotes, and more are topically arranged to get his (sometimes contradictory) views on the big subjects.
If I were to summarize the Napoleon I got to know in these pages, it is a man who knew how to leverage circumstance to the fraction. He was a master gambler and planner. This is why think he made history and an enduring impact without managing to remain an Emperor.
Also, Napoleon was not really much of a break from the norm of monarchs of the time except for being a Corsican upstart. He fit the mold of an Enlightened Despot perfectly and that is, perhaps, the key to his quick rise and roughly fifteen years of absolutist power. The people of Europe were ready for a man of his ilk, because they had lived under his predecessors for a generation. He would have much more in common with Frederick the Great than Joseph Stalin for example.
As such, there is a lot to learn about his times and all times in these pages. There is also a lot of value in seeing how a genius can miscalculate. It is a shame he could never cross the ocean himself to meet with the American Founding generation. The collision of atoms comes to mind.
I am about to read two very large books on Napoleon and found this to be a nice appetizer.
October 10, 2026
Just a really interesting glimpse into what may be the greatest mind the world has ever known, and certainly one of the most fascinating.
To understand Napoleon is to understand a man whose sole purpose was to fulfill his destiny, sacrificing everything for it. He did not even consider himself ambitious, he says, because he never had to resist any urges to act; it was simply his nature. To aim for world empire seemed like a natural thing to him. Nor did he do so in the hope of obtaining joy and satisfaction, as he knew it would not bring him either.
There is a famous story from Plutarch in which Pyrrhus tells the ambassador Cineas that he is going to conquer Rome. Cineas replies, “Then what?” Pyrrhus says, “Then Italy.” Cineas asks, “Then what?” and Pyrrhus replies, “Sicily,” and so on, until finally, when Cineas asks, “Then what?”, Pyrrhus says that they will relax, have a drink, and enjoy good conversation. Cineas responds that they can do that now. Puzzled, Pyrrhus continues with his plans. Much the same was true of Napoleon; it was simply who he was. He describes ambition as an inordinate passion, like a violent fever, that ceases only when life ceases.
Napoleon was a tireless worker with an unmatched level of energy, particularly in his hyperfocus on whatever task he was currently undertaking. He believed that his destiny would be fulfilled in installments and that you had to master each installment before moving on to the next.
Through this, we see different thoughts he had on what makes someone great. He says that a consecutive series of great actions is never the result of luck, but of planning and genius. It is not luck that makes men great; rather, by mastering luck, they become great, as luck is the ability to exploit accidents, which is the characteristic of genius. He says that all great events hang by a single thread, where the clever man takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that may give him an added opportunity, while the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, misses everything. Obsessed with this idea, he would say that to die is nothing, but to live without leaving a trace of yourself is not to have lived at all. The only real immortality is what you leave in the minds of men.
One thing that is particularly interesting is that he repeatedly talks about the need to avoid trying to control everything. People would often ask him what his plans were, to which he would reply that he was unsure. The reason was that he did not try to force circumstances to adapt to his plans, but did the reverse, constantly adapting his plans to changing circumstances.
Churchill famously called Napoleon the greatest man of action, which is very much reflected in Napoleon’s thought process. He says that if the art of war were nothing but avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds.
In discussing the art of war, for which he is most famous, he says that it consists of calculating all the possibilities accurately and then making an almost mathematically exact allowance for accidents, in which there is no room for error. He claims that accidents always remain a mystery to mediocre minds but are a reality for superior men. He says that no one must overlook anything that will allow them to exploit these accidents, which the weak-minded would dismiss as luck. He would say that no one is more cautious when planning, exaggerating all scenarios, but once he has made up his mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success. Hesitation is fatal.
He was constantly concerned with preserving his empire, understanding that, for other royal families, losing battles could result in the loss of some territory, but for him, it would mean the loss of his entire empire. He knew that his power depended on his glory, and his glory on his victories. His power would fall if it were not built on more glory and more victories. It was conquest that made him what he was, and conquest alone could keep him there.
A really interesting read into one of the greatest minds in human history.
To understand Napoleon is to understand a man whose sole purpose was to fulfill his destiny, sacrificing everything for it. He did not even consider himself ambitious, he says, because he never had to resist any urges to act; it was simply his nature. To aim for world empire seemed like a natural thing to him. Nor did he do so in the hope of obtaining joy and satisfaction, as he knew it would not bring him either.
There is a famous story from Plutarch in which Pyrrhus tells the ambassador Cineas that he is going to conquer Rome. Cineas replies, “Then what?” Pyrrhus says, “Then Italy.” Cineas asks, “Then what?” and Pyrrhus replies, “Sicily,” and so on, until finally, when Cineas asks, “Then what?”, Pyrrhus says that they will relax, have a drink, and enjoy good conversation. Cineas responds that they can do that now. Puzzled, Pyrrhus continues with his plans. Much the same was true of Napoleon; it was simply who he was. He describes ambition as an inordinate passion, like a violent fever, that ceases only when life ceases.
Napoleon was a tireless worker with an unmatched level of energy, particularly in his hyperfocus on whatever task he was currently undertaking. He believed that his destiny would be fulfilled in installments and that you had to master each installment before moving on to the next.
Through this, we see different thoughts he had on what makes someone great. He says that a consecutive series of great actions is never the result of luck, but of planning and genius. It is not luck that makes men great; rather, by mastering luck, they become great, as luck is the ability to exploit accidents, which is the characteristic of genius. He says that all great events hang by a single thread, where the clever man takes advantage of everything and neglects nothing that may give him an added opportunity, while the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, misses everything. Obsessed with this idea, he would say that to die is nothing, but to live without leaving a trace of yourself is not to have lived at all. The only real immortality is what you leave in the minds of men.
One thing that is particularly interesting is that he repeatedly talks about the need to avoid trying to control everything. People would often ask him what his plans were, to which he would reply that he was unsure. The reason was that he did not try to force circumstances to adapt to his plans, but did the reverse, constantly adapting his plans to changing circumstances.
Churchill famously called Napoleon the greatest man of action, which is very much reflected in Napoleon’s thought process. He says that if the art of war were nothing but avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds.
In discussing the art of war, for which he is most famous, he says that it consists of calculating all the possibilities accurately and then making an almost mathematically exact allowance for accidents, in which there is no room for error. He claims that accidents always remain a mystery to mediocre minds but are a reality for superior men. He says that no one must overlook anything that will allow them to exploit these accidents, which the weak-minded would dismiss as luck. He would say that no one is more cautious when planning, exaggerating all scenarios, but once he has made up his mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success. Hesitation is fatal.
He was constantly concerned with preserving his empire, understanding that, for other royal families, losing battles could result in the loss of some territory, but for him, it would mean the loss of his entire empire. He knew that his power depended on his glory, and his glory on his victories. His power would fall if it were not built on more glory and more victories. It was conquest that made him what he was, and conquest alone could keep him there.
A really interesting read into one of the greatest minds in human history.
December 31, 2024
Napoleon’s thoughts reveal a man whose mental acuity matched his military genius. His reflections range from geopolitical predictions, to religion, to technology, to ancient generals, the nature of love and marriage, and the pursuit of greatness. What strikes the most to anyone who is able to read Napoleon's thoughts directly was his self-awareness, despite his stereotyping as a little tyrant. There is, after all, a reason why he was admired by all sorts of liberal geniuses from the era: Goethe, Laplace, Stendhal, Hegel, to name a few.
The Enlightenment on horseback was much more of an intellectual than we today give him credit. And, in truth, there is a real-life tragedy to be found here. He was not a happy man, despite his conquests: “To love another you must have enough love for life to give it to others; I don't think I've ever loved, not really. Perhaps that is why I was never at peace.”.
The Enlightenment on horseback was much more of an intellectual than we today give him credit. And, in truth, there is a real-life tragedy to be found here. He was not a happy man, despite his conquests: “To love another you must have enough love for life to give it to others; I don't think I've ever loved, not really. Perhaps that is why I was never at peace.”.
November 24, 2025
This is a collection of pronouncements attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, some backed by solid historical sources and others clearly based on hearsay, which weakens the overall impact. Still, it’s interesting as a window into how he (and others) wanted to present his mind and ideas to the world.
My conclusion: Napoleon was very much a man of his time. Many of his views now feel deeply outdated or even offensive (toward women, “inferiors,” and non-French people), but he genuinely seemed to believe he was the savior not only of France, but of Europe. That sense of mission and his megalomania—wanting to control everything and everyone—were also what ultimately destroyed him.
A genius of war, a sharp reader (and manipulator) of the men around him, and someone who benefited enormously from “luck”: being in the right place at the right time… although, in many ways, he also built that luck for himself.
My conclusion: Napoleon was very much a man of his time. Many of his views now feel deeply outdated or even offensive (toward women, “inferiors,” and non-French people), but he genuinely seemed to believe he was the savior not only of France, but of Europe. That sense of mission and his megalomania—wanting to control everything and everyone—were also what ultimately destroyed him.
A genius of war, a sharp reader (and manipulator) of the men around him, and someone who benefited enormously from “luck”: being in the right place at the right time… although, in many ways, he also built that luck for himself.
June 22, 2025
Goethe wrote that Napoleon possessed the greatest mind the world had ever produced. He should know, having spoken with the Emperor after the Battle of Jena. Fidel Castro mused in his prison letters, "Napoleon knew the French inside out!". This selection from Bonaparte's letters, speeches, directives to the Grand Army and the dubious "Memoirs", written on St. Helena, attest to that assessment. Here is Napoleon on taxation, the emancipation of the Jews in Europe, bankers conspiracies, the perfidy of the English, proper diet for a soldier, and the character of Christ, "I know men, and that was no ordinary man". No subject was beneath or above him. The kind of guide to life one takes on vacation, and with a grain of salt.
June 4, 2023
9.2/10
unravels one of the most enigmatic leaders in history.
wonderful because it looks at it from the lens of his thoughts rather that a historical overview.
It's like the French go rin no sho.
I can see why Sam likes
unravels one of the most enigmatic leaders in history.
wonderful because it looks at it from the lens of his thoughts rather that a historical overview.
It's like the French go rin no sho.
I can see why Sam likes
May 15, 2019
Awesome.
October 6, 2025
Me da la impresión de que ya conozco a Napoleon.
November 4, 2025
What an amazing mind on dis-lay here. An agent of change on a planetary scale opened up for your examination.
September 6, 2026
too much alpha, text for spoilers
September 24, 2026
First part brilliant, but then it becomes repetitive
Want to Read
July 26, 2023Sam altman rec. Human psychology esp.
May 8, 2026
What I read was excellent, especially how Napoleon considered amortization, however it putters out.
January 9, 2012
A wonderful collection of Napoleon's thoughts.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews