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Napoleon: A life

From New York Times bestselling author Paul Johnson, “a very readable and entertaining biography” (The Washington Post) about one of the most important figures in modern European history: Napoleon Bonaparte In an ideal pairing

(8 total)

Characters

Paul Johnson (7)Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1)

“I felt in his soul a cold steel, I felt in his mind a deep irony against which nothing great or good, even his own destiny, was proof.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life

“Bonaparte was a man who, when he was in his cradle, had been given by the Good Fairy gifts beyond the imagination of most men. But she had denied him things that most people, however humble, take for granted–the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, right and wrong.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life, Sociopath

“He's not lively or pleasant in conversation, but now and then he comes out with a thought you remember all the rest of your life.”

— Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, amazon.com

Tagged: Life

“He had not a good memory for proper names, words and dates, but it was prodigious for facts and localities.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life

“It says a lot for [Napoleon's] ebullient self confidence, or maybe for his belief in his destiny; that having failed at one uncongenial end of Europe, he was ready to risk a second front at the other end, which was even less hospital to his methods.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life, Productivity

“Napoleon described his mind and work life as a series of drawers. Open one, shut the other.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life, Productivity

“His fellow workmen break down and sink under the burden imposed on them and he supports them without feeling the weight.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com

Tagged: Life

“What characterized him most of all was the force, flexibility, and constancy of his attention.”

— Paul Johnson, amazon.com