Inexcusable Quotes



Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon-Condé, the Duke of Enghien, was falsely accused of plotting against the French government. He was arrested and hung, to the dismay of Napoleon's court. The famous and feared Fouché was heard to say contemptuously: The quotation may first have been uttered at the May 21 execution by Boulay de la Meurthe.


Some ascribe the remark to Joseph Fouche. See Dean Acheson for a later use of this concept in describing the Vietnam War.