“Usually, it is man who attacks; as for me, I defend myself, and I often capitulate.”

—  Napoleon III

On his numerous mistresses, as quoted in The True Story of the Empress Eugénie (1921) by Guy Jean Raoul Eugène Charles Emmanuel de Savoie-Carignan Soissons, Ccomte de Soissons
Variant translation: It is usually the man who attacks. As for me, I defend myself, and I often capitulate.
As quoted in The Mistresses : Domestic Scandals of the 19th-Century Monarchs (1966) by E. Cobham Brewer

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 12, 2023. History

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French emperor, president, and member of the House of Bonap… 1808–1873

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