Sir Charles James Napier (10 August, 1782 – 29 August, 1853) was a British general and Commander-in-Chief in India. The city of Napier, New Zealand, is named after him. He is famous for conquering the Sindh province now in present-day Pakistan.

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• You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed"

"the human mind is never better disposed to gratitude and attachment than when softened by fear"

"Come here instantly. Come here at once and make your submission, or I will in a week tear you from the midst of your village and hang you

Misattributed

• Peccavi
  • Latin for "I have sinned", a pun on "I have (captured) Scinde".
  • Brilliant as the victories had been, Napier had to face criticism from enemies and friends alike. The new English humor magazine, Punch, barely a year old, published a cartoon of Napier striding through the carnage of the battlefield with the caption "Peccavi" — "I have sinned", as indeed he had. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/napier.html