“You never commanded any men but Corsican deserters.”
A dismissive jab at Hudson Lowe's earlier command of the Royal Corsican Rangers, part of the long personal feud between the exiled emperor and his island governor.
— Napoleon Bonaparte, Saint Helena
Source: Napoleon to Governor Hudson Lowe, Longwood House, as recounted in Napoleonic captivity histories (see napoleon.org, "General Sir Hudson Lowe: Napoleon's Jailer")
More Proverbs from Saint Helena
He doesn't have a bone in his tongue.
Said of someone who speaks whatever comes to mind, bluntly and without regard for tact or consequence.
Put the goat in charge of the vegetable patch.
A warning against entrusting responsibility to someone who cannot be trusted with it, the local equivalent of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Going right round the ridges to get to The Castle.
Describes taking a long, roundabout way to reach a simple goal, doing something the hard way when a direct path was available — named for the steep ridges surrounding Jamestown's Castle, the seat of Saint Helena's government.
Loyal and unshakeable.
The official motto of Saint Helena, reflecting the steadfastness and resilience the island's people are known for.
What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.
Reflecting in exile, Napoleon suggested that official histories are shaped by consensus and interpretation as much as by fact.
I may have had many projects, but I was never truly my own master — I was always ruled by circumstances.
Looking back from his island exile, Napoleon admitted that even at the height of his power, events controlled him as much as his own will did.