The secret of her personality that made her the Empress not only of the hearts of the Frenchmen, but also of the nations her husband conquered, has been beautifully told by herself.

"There is only one occasion," she said to a friend, "in which I would voluntarily use the words, 'I _will_!'-- namely, when I would say, 'I will that all around me be happy.'" "It was only a glad 'good-morning,' As she passed along the way, But it spread the morning's glory Over the livelong day." A fine manner more than compensates for all the defects of nature.

The most fascinating person is always the one of most winning manners, not the one of greatest physical beauty.

The Greeks thought beauty was a proof of the peculiar favor of the gods, and considered that beauty only worth adorning and transmitting which was unmarred by outward manifestations of hard and haughty feeling.

According to their ideal, beauty must be the expression of attractive qualities within--such as cheerfulness, benignity, contentment, charity, and love.
Mirabeau was one of the ugliest men in France.