[Ads-l] Request help with aphrodisiac remark attributed to Napoleon

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

A recent Quote Investigator article examined a quotation about power
attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte who died in 1821. Here is a link to
the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/11/12/power-aphrodisiac/

Here is the earliest attribution to Napoleon I could find:

Cite: 1979 Copyright, Marie Walewska: Napoleon's Great Love by
Christine Sutherland, Chapter 3: The French Are Coming, Quote Page 42,
The Vendome Press, New York; Distributed by The Viking Press (Verified
with scans)

[Begin excerpt]
We know from contemporary memoirs that at this particular stage of his
life Napoleon's attitude to the fair sex was one of cynicism and
contempt. 'Women', he would say to his associates, 'they belong to the
highest bidder. Power is what they like — it is the greatest of all
aphrodisiacs, they are fascinated by it. ... I take them and forget
them. ...'
[End excerpt]

Author Christine Sutherland did not provide a precise citation for
this remark, but it appears in important reference works such as the
following:

Cite: 1999, Random House Webster's Quotationary, Editor Leonard Roy
Frank, Topic: Power, Quote Page 629, Column 2, Random House, New York.
(Verified with scans)

[Begin excerpt]
[Women] belong to the highest bidder. Power is what they like — it is
the greatest of all aphrodisiacs.
NAPOLEON (1769-1821). Attributed. In Constant Louis Wairy (his valet),
Mémoirs de Constant, premier valet de l’empereur, 1831.
[End excerpt]

I have attempted to find a French version of the quotation in the
multivolume memoirs of Constant Louis Wairy in the 1830s, but I have
not succeeded. I have also tried to find the quotation in English
translations of Wairy's memoirs without success. It may have appeared
in a memoir by someone else.

Perhaps a list participant can help.
Garson O'Toole

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