Joseph Fouché described by women, a compilation
“Fouché wasn't handsome, but he had a charming wit and was extremely amiable.”
– Mémoires de Charlotte Robespierre sur ses deux frères, Dépôt central, Paris, 1835, p. 122
“The winter of 1801 in Paris was quite agreeable to me, due to the ease with which Fouché granted the various requests I made to him regarding the return of the émigrés. In the midst of my disgrace, he gave me the pleasure of being useful, and I remain grateful to him for that. [...] Fouché was Minister of Police. His approach, as my mother used to say, was to do as little harm as possible, once the necessity of the goal was acknowledged.”
– Madame de Staël, Dix années d’exil, Charpentier, Paris, 1861, pp. 235 & 305
“Assured of my discretion, Fouché spoke before me and with me in the most honorable manner. Never have I had a better sense of his intellect. Our conversations covered everything; we reviewed people and events; never have I formed a more favorable opinion of him, and I can say that I became attached, with esteem and affection, to a man who seemed to me to be of such superior stature and of such independent and genuine kindness. [...] Fouché was quite tall, thin, and pale, a pallor that was mainly due to the fact that in his youth his hair had been, or must have been, a very dull blond. His eyes, very small, set close together, and very red, were nevertheless quite piercing, and his entire face lacked neither character nor, at times, a certain nobility.”
– Mémoires de Mme de Chastenay, v. I & II, pp. 464 & 39-40
“Fouché [...] was a genuine product of the Revolution. Careless of his appearance, he wore the gold lace and the ribbons which were the insignia of his dignities as if he disdained to arrange them. He could laugh at himself on occasion : he was active, animated, always restless ; talkative, affecting a sort of frankness which was merely the last degree of deceit ; boasting ; disposed to seek the opinion of others upon his conduct by talking about it, and sought no justification except in his contempt of a certain class of morality, or his carelessness of a certain order of approbation.”
– Mémoires de madame de Rémusat, v. I, S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, Londres, 1880, pp. 426-427
“Madame de Custine’s closest friends—those who belonged to her inner circle and whom she saw constantly—were [first] Fouché, whom she affectionately called Chéché.”
– Gaston Maugras, Delphine de Sabran, marquise de Custine, Paris, Plon, 1912, p. 370
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