Napoleon's Maxims and Strategy

“Napoleon fought more battles than Alexander, Hannibal, and Julius Caesar combined.”

“A novice is easily spotted because they do too much. Too many ingredients, too many movements, too much explanation. A master uses the fewest motions required to fulfill their intention.”

“Sam Altman, the founder of, the creator of OpenAI and ChatGPT he said when, that was the Mind of Napoleon was the most important book that he read in the year, if I'm not mistaken.”

“I love rereading books, because the words on the page don't change, but you do. And, you know, you can even be a different person the next week, or your interpretation could be a different”

“The quality of the business is based on the quality of the founder, the talent, the founder is able to recruit to their mission and the market that they target at the commencement of a campaign.”

“No one should believe more in your business than you do. If this is not the case, you are in the wrong business.”

“The way I think about what he's saying here is that smaller teams, smaller companies must be more clever and resourceful than larger ones. They just have to, you have to outthink them”

“The founders should have deep historical knowledge of past founders, so that they can then use those lessons as leverage in their career, because that's exactly what Napoleon did.”

“If you permit yourself to be guided by administrators, you will never budge and your expeditions will fail.”

“Advanced orders tend to stifle initiative. A commander should be left free to adapt himself to circumstances as they occur.”

“Keep a fortress of cash. This is what John D. Rockefeller did. This is what Warren Buffett did. They kept fortresses of cash. It is a distinct advantage to have near at hand All the supplies you need.”

“The art of war consists in a well-organized and conservative defense, coupled with an audacious and rapid offense.”

“10 people who yell make more noise than 10,000 who keep silent.”

“Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read, and to understand are the enemies of speed.”

“If you are smaller and slower, you're going to lose. It's just not going to happen.”

“You go to sleep on a win, you'll wake up with a loss.”

“A lot of money and success will make your company sloppy and soft. We see this over and over again. It's just part of human nature. And when that happens, a younger, hungrier competitor will soon overtake you.”

“When authority is divided, opinions and actions differ, and confusion and delay arises. A single chief proceeds with vigor. He is not delayed by the necessity to confer.”

“Experience must be supplemented by study. No man's personal experience can be so inclusive as to warrant his disregarding the experience of others.”

“If his courage is greater, A general heedlessly undertakes things beyond his ability. So his courage is greater than his talent or his intelligence. If on the contrary, his character or courage is less than his intelligence, he does not carry out any plans. He…”

“I got the chance to talk to both before they passed away. Two hours of Sam Zell and three hours of Charlie Munger.”