Great Leaders Study Great Leaders: David Senra on Napoleon’s Legacy

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David Senra spends his days reading books, taking notes, and sharing the insights he gathers on his Founders Podcast. His reading menu is simple: great leaders—some from the past, some from the present. At times, he reads multiple books simultaneously, often revisiting the great leaders of history.

Like many leadership enthusiasts, Senra has favorites. One leader he frequently discusses is Napoleon Bonaparte. Senra, like Winston Churchill, finds Napoleon a fascinating figure. Churchill even kept a bust of Napoleon in his office at Chartwell and during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Despite his small stature, Napoleon was a towering figure in leadership. His extraordinary ability to inspire and command individuals makes him a subject worthy of study.

Here are some of Senra’s notes from his continued reading on Napoleon:

1. Imagination rules the world.

2. Destiny must be fulfilled—that is my chief doctrine.

3. The simplest moves are the best.

4. All great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglecting nothing that may provide an opportunity; the less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.

5. What the people want is almost never the same as what the people say.

6. The great majority of men attend to what is necessary only when they feel a need for it—the precise moment when it is too late.

7. A consecutive series of great actions is never the result of chance or luck; it is always a product of planning and genius.

8. Hesitation is fatal; once an action is begun, it must be followed through with the utmost exertion of will.

9. It is better to eat than to be eaten.

10. If I have any ambition, it is so natural to me, so innate, so intimately linked with my existence that it is like the blood circulating in my veins, like the air I breathe.

11. To have lived without leaving a trace of one’s existence is not to have lived at all.

12. The greatest improvisation of the human mind is that which gives existence to the nonexistent.

13. Most sentiments are traditions. We experience them because they have preceded us.

14. The truth is that everything around us is a miracle.

15. Everything on earth is soon forgotten—except the opinion we leave imprinted on history.

16. Men of genius are meteors destined to be consumed in lighting up their century.

17. We are born for the enjoyment of life. Happiness is merely the enjoyment of life in the manner that best conforms to our nature.

18. Men are strange. It is easier to impress them and capture their imagination with tomfoolery than with sound ideas.

19. A man must know himself. Until then, all endeavors are in vain, and all schemes collapse.

20. What I am, I owe to strength of will, character, application, and daring.

21. A revolution can be neither made nor stopped.

22. Avoid everything that might give false ideas of the truth.

23. Without talent and knowledge, there is no equality—only the equality of misery and servitude.

24. An acute but short pain is preferable to prolonged suffering.

25. Death is nothing; but to live defeated and without glory is to die every day.

26. There are no precise, determinate rules; everything depends on the character nature has bestowed on the general.

27. Once I have made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success.

28. From triumph to downfall, there is but one step.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s leadership was a fusion of extraordinary personal qualities and strategic brilliance. His legacy continues to be studied and admired, offering timeless insights into leadership and the traits that define great leaders.

From his triumphs to his setbacks, Napoleon’s life serves as a testament to the power of ambition, determination, and vision in shaping the course of history.

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