Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words

By Napoléon Bonaparte

J. Christopher Herold (1919-1964) was an editor at Columbia University Press and Stanford University Press as well as the author of numerous books, including Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231085230
• ISBN13: 9780231085236
• Release Date: January 1955
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 322 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Amazing

if you enjoyed szun tzus art of war you will definetly enjoy this book in my opinion

Amazing thoughts

if u like szun tzus art of war you will really enjoy reading this book

Spellbinding

If I must go to a deserted place today and am allowed to carry only one book, this would be it. It will provide me with enough thoughts on life, death, destiny, existence, hope and vision to fill a lifetime. If you ever wondered how a man could achieve (and fail) so spectacularly for so short a span in such diverse areas, this book will deliver the answer. You will never see him under the same lights.

Great Insight!

It is a shame that this book is currently out of print. If I were to recommend ONE book (out of thousands available on the topic) as a starting point for someone interested in what made Napoleon tick it would be this one. Herold has arranged Napoleon's writings and quotes by topic in an easy to follow manner. This book makes a great companion volume to general works on the period and gives readers an extra dimension of understanding. Here in his own words is the ultimate product of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

The ablest of historic figures in his own words

Napoleon and Pascal are the two finest minds I have encountered and are unrivalled as students of the human heart. They are as penetrating as Dostoyevsky and more logical. This work and Pensees illuminate the human condition with unmatched clarity. Napoleon was an undisputed genius, and no man of comparable intellect had such a wide experience of life. Here he tells us what existence taught him about men, love, war, politics and God. Here is philosophy wrung from a life of unparalleled incident and as such the emperor is suitably humble, surprisingly likeable, and unflinchingly honest. 'A man is only a man, if circumstances are not favourable he is nothing'. 'All my life I have sacrificed evrything - comfort, self-interest, happiness - to my destiny.' 'I have never doubted God. For if my reason did not suffice to understand him, yet my inner feeling accepted him.' 'Only a madman can die without a confessor.' Mr. Herold's book does not contain all of the great man's insights, but it is the best starting point available.