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

[Stephen Goranson]

If it is of interest, Napoleon is sometimes quoted for "power is my
mistress" or "my mistress is power."
According to tome 3, page 514, col. 2 "Ma maitresse, c'est le pouvior."
Maybe recorded on Nov. 4, 1804

Œuvres du comte P. L. Rœderer ...
pub. par son fils le baron A. M. Rœderer ... tant sur les manuscrits
inédits de l'auteur, que sur les éditions partielles de ceux de ses
ouvrages qui ont déjà été publiés, avec les corrections et les changements
qu'il y a faits postérieurement ...

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015014285871&seq=526&q1=maitresse

*sg*

On Fri, Nov 13, 2026 at 2:57 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

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

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