Madame de Tencin was gentle-mannered but quite unscrupulous, capable of absolutely anything. On one occasion people were praising the gentleness of her nature. “Yes,” an abbé commented, “if it was in her interest to poison you, I’m sure she’d choose the pleasantest poison possible.”
[Mme de Tencin, avec des manières douces, était une femme sans principes et capable de tout, exactement. Un jour, on louait sa douceur: «Oui, dit l’abbé Trublet, si elle eût eu intérêt de vous empoisonner, elle eût choisi le poison le plus doux.»]Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ¶ 662 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 455]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:When some one was one day vaunting the affability and softness of manner of Madame de Tencin, the Abbé Trublet replied, "Yes, if it was her interest to poison you she would select the sweetest poison for the purpose."
[tr. Blessington (c. 1869)]Madame de Tencin, with the suavest manners in the world, was an unprincipled woman, capable of anything. On one occasion, a friend was praising her gentleness. "Aye, aye," said the Abbé Imblet, "if she had any object whatever in poisoning you, undoubtedly she would choose the sweetest and least disagreeable poison in the world."
[tr. Mathews (1878)]Madame de Tencin, whose manners were of the sweetest, was a woman of no principles, and capable of anything, precisely. One day someone was extolling her sweetness. "Yes," said the Abbé Trublet, {if she stood to profit by poisoning you, she would choose the sweetest possible poison."
[tr. Merwin (1969)]Mme de Tencin, with the sweetest manners, was a woman without principles and was capable of everything, to be exact. One day someone praised her sweetness: "Yes," said the abbé Trublet, "if she decided to poison you, she would choose the sweetest poison possible."
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994), ¶ 662]
