Jeanne Bécu
Title: Madame du Barry
AKA: Comtesse du Barry
Birthdate: August 19, 1743
Birthplace: Vaucouleurs, France
Date of Death: December 8, 1793
Occupation: Maitresse-en-titre to Louis XV
Profile: Guillotined in Paris in 1793.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_du_Barry
Number of Quotes: 4
Beauty is a passport, but it expires quickly.
La beauté est un passeport, mais il expire vite.
A reflection on her reliance on charm and looks, though no direct historical source confirms this as hers.
It is better to be the mistress of a king than the wife of a bourgeois.
Il vaut mieux être la maîtresse d'un roi que la femme d'un bourgeois.
A sentiment often ascribed to her, reflecting her rise from modest origins to Versailles.
However, this phrase is generic and may be conflated with stereotypes about courtesans.
Oh! Mr. Executioner, one moment of grace!
Ah! Monsieur le Bourreau, un instant de grâce!
Purported last words before her execution by guillotine in 1793 during the French Revolution. This
dramatic plea is widely cited but debated by historians, as some accounts claim she panicked or resisted.
Why so much hatred?
Pourquoi tant de haine?
Allegedly spoken during her trial in 1793, responding to revolutionary hostility. Documentation is sparse.
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