Fouquet:
[With contempt] Let me congradulate you, my friend, but then you always had the most annoying habit of bringing about the things you wish to bring about. Most amusing comedy - worthy of so great a playwright!
Colbert: As a fellow playwright you understand how narrow the line dividing comedy and tragedy.
Fouquet: Quite right, and I'm afraid His Majesty's executioner will provide the tragedy when this charming little comedy is finished.
Colbert: His Majesty's executioner could provide the tragedy before the comedy is finished.
--Walter Kingsford (as Colbert) in The Man in the Iron Mask
Colbert: As a fellow playwright you understand how narrow the line dividing comedy and tragedy.
Fouquet: Quite right, and I'm afraid His Majesty's executioner will provide the tragedy when this charming little comedy is finished.
Colbert: His Majesty's executioner could provide the tragedy before the comedy is finished.
--Walter Kingsford (as Colbert) in The Man in the Iron Mask
[about Pasteur]
Dr. Charbonnet: You remember a few years ago, he was the cause of a slight controversy on the subject of sour wine.
Napoleon III: Oh, yes, I recall.
Dr. Charbonnet: He claimed to have found little animals in it... infinitesimal beasts.
Napoleon III: But are there such creatures? Do they really exist?
Dr. Charbonnet: Your Majesty, microscopic organisms have long been observed. They spring into being of their own accord wherever there is putrid matter or fermentation. They are the result rather than the cause of disease. By heating wine to certain temperature, Monsieur Pasteur was able to destroy them. I presume he plans to cure blood poisoning in the same manner: namely, by boiling our blood.
Napoleon III: Heaven forbid.
Dr. Charbonnet: It's not unlikely, I assure you.
Napoleon III: But, I won't have it, Charbonnet. I won't tolerate such practices. We're not living in the Middle Ages. This is France... Paris... the nineteenth century.
Empress Eugenie: I think Monsieur Pasteur should be allowed to defend himself.
Dr. Charbonnet: But, your Majesty...
Empress Eugenie: I, too, have read the pamphlet, Doctor Charbonnet. It said nothing about boiling blood - merely to boil the instruments that you surgeons use.
Dr. Charbonnet: Your Majesty, if I did anything so absurd as to boil my instruments or scrub my hands, they'd think I was a witch doctor resorting to charms and laugh me out of the hospital.
Empress Eugenie: That would be a novelty, Monsieur. Most people who go to hospitals are CARRIED out... dead.
Napoleon III: Yes, Cahrbonnet. Why?
--Walter Kingsford (as Napoleon III) in The Story of Louis Pasteur
Dr. Charbonnet: You remember a few years ago, he was the cause of a slight controversy on the subject of sour wine.
Napoleon III: Oh, yes, I recall.
Dr. Charbonnet: He claimed to have found little animals in it... infinitesimal beasts.
Napoleon III: But are there such creatures? Do they really exist?
Dr. Charbonnet: Your Majesty, microscopic organisms have long been observed. They spring into being of their own accord wherever there is putrid matter or fermentation. They are the result rather than the cause of disease. By heating wine to certain temperature, Monsieur Pasteur was able to destroy them. I presume he plans to cure blood poisoning in the same manner: namely, by boiling our blood.
Napoleon III: Heaven forbid.
Dr. Charbonnet: It's not unlikely, I assure you.
Napoleon III: But, I won't have it, Charbonnet. I won't tolerate such practices. We're not living in the Middle Ages. This is France... Paris... the nineteenth century.
Empress Eugenie: I think Monsieur Pasteur should be allowed to defend himself.
Dr. Charbonnet: But, your Majesty...
Empress Eugenie: I, too, have read the pamphlet, Doctor Charbonnet. It said nothing about boiling blood - merely to boil the instruments that you surgeons use.
Dr. Charbonnet: Your Majesty, if I did anything so absurd as to boil my instruments or scrub my hands, they'd think I was a witch doctor resorting to charms and laugh me out of the hospital.
Empress Eugenie: That would be a novelty, Monsieur. Most people who go to hospitals are CARRIED out... dead.
Napoleon III: Yes, Cahrbonnet. Why?
--Walter Kingsford (as Napoleon III) in The Story of Louis Pasteur