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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for searching and sharing your valuable perspective, Stephen.
Garson

On Fri, Nov 13, 2026 at 10:22 AM Stephen Goranson
<00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> This is not directly relevant to the request.
> There may be different uses of the term. Old uses seem to center on what
> arouses in one individual the urge associated with Aphrodite or Venus.
> Sometimes potions were recommended  Of course, anciently, there were also
> charms or actions purported to entice a specific lover, to effect arousal.
> as it were, by remote control
> In the case of Mr. Kissinger my guess is that he used that phrase to mean
> that his power was a babe magnet, rather than necessarily his outstanding
> virility. But I speculate; he did live 100 years.
> Anyway, here's a (rare?) text from 1860 by Robert David Lalor, according to
> gb, but the title page and worldcat give D'Lalor, M.D.. A Physiological
> View of Marriage...:
>
> It frequently happens that a couple will have no offspring, and yet on
> being divorced and forming other connections, both will have children. Thus
> it was with Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine, who, though unfruitful in
> connection, gave proof that the deficiency did not lie in either, but only
> in the relationship to each other; perhaps both were too intellectual to
> produce the excitement necessary to the desired end; yet I am satisfied
> that I could have given them the proper stimulants which would have excited
> a mutual warmth of feeling, and given an heir to the throne of France. Had
> my APHRODISIAC or VITAL ELIXIR been introduced [....]
>
> sg
>
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_physiological_view_of_marriage_with_ob/tTBcAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=napoleon+aphrodesian+OR+aphrodisiac&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2026 at 1:32 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org