The mystery of Napoleon's career was this, that under all difficulties and discouragement,
he pressed on. It solves the problem of all heroes; it is the rule by which to weigh rightly all
wonderful successes and triumphal marches to fortune and genius. It should be the motto of all
old and young, high and low, fortunate and unfortunate so called.
Never despair; never be discouraged, however stormy the heavens, however dark the way.
however great the difficulties and repeated the failures. Press on !
If fortune has played false with you today, do you play true to yourself tomorrow? If
your
riches have taken wings and left you, do not weep your life away, but be up and doing, and
retrieve the loss by new energy and new action. If an unfortunate bargain has deranged your
business, do not fold your arms, and give up all as lost; but stir yourself, and work all the more
vigorously. If those whom you have trusted have betrayed you, do not be discouraged, do not
idly weep, but ‘Press on ! Find others, or what is better, learn to live within yourself. Let the
foolishness of yesterday make you wise today.write a summary
Answers
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51.
Napoleon’s Education and Early Military Career
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. He was the second of eight surviving children born to Carlo Buonaparte (1746-1785), a lawyer, and Letizia Romalino Buonaparte (1750-1836). Although his parents were members of the minor Corsican nobility, the family was not wealthy. The year before Napoleon’s birth, France acquired Corsica from the city-state of Genoa, Italy. Napoleon later adopted a French spelling of his last name.