"Ma'am, I don't like women who are interested in politics at all."
-
"Sir, at a time when their heads are cut off, it is quite normal that they seek to know why."
This piquant dialogue took place between Napoleon Bonaparte and Madame de Staël.
True or apocryphal, it doesn't matter.
These historical quotes have the charm of showing us the brilliant repartee of our French characters.
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The examples are legion, the tone is varied.
Flattering:
"I thought I would fall into the ditch"
, exclaims the Duke of Orleans during a hunt -
"Monseigneur, he would have been delighted to receive you"
, replies a servant.
Scathing:
"Sir, there is still an act ..."
, warns the clerk of a theater -
"That's why I'm going"
, launches Georges Feydeau, leaving the premises angrily.
Bitter:
"You see, Monsieur, let us stand up for you"
, said the mistress of Fontenelle -
"Yes, but you are going to bed for another, whom I am enraged"
, he laments.
The editorial team invites you to test your knowledge of these little phrases passed down to posterity, thanks to the Bons mots de l'histoire, by Hubert van Rie (Robert Laffont, 2021).
Will you be the best?