Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes
Vices make very good patriots?
Napoleon was referring to vices like alcohol, opium, and tobacco which could be taxed heavily with much support of many citizens. This could finance the nation. That was the logic of the quote.
Napoleon Bonaparte Bonaparte, 1769-1821, [Napoleon Bonaparte], Military leader and Emperor of France, Quoted in Ralph Waldo Emerson“, American Civilization”, The Atlantic Monthly, April 1862
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This historical quotation is surprising to us over a century later. We are surprised at the very large revenue from the then relatively low tax rates on alcohol and tobacco and many people who did not pay their taxes at the time. Also, the incredibly small appropriation for the military. WWI was only 4 years away. Generally, until the Second World War, the Democratic party did not advocate large military expenditures and the Republicans were more isolationist and opposed almost all defense spending. After WWII, the Republican Party flip flopped and became the champion of military readiness and defense spending.
A nonjuror was a cleric of the Church of England or the Episcopal Church of Scotland who refused to take a loyalty oath to William & Mary.
This quotation so impressed Thomas Jefferson that he wrote it in his Commonplace Book.
He was the last Pope to hold temporal power.
Napoléon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader of Corsican descent. He rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. One of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. He remains one of the most celebrated and controversial political figures in human history.
