"For what else are sovereigns made?"
He refused to inhabit the Tuileries, remembering that Bonaparte had taken his ease in the palaces of Vienna, Berlin and Moscow.
Looking at the statue of Napoleon on the column in the Place Vendôme, he said:
"If I were so high up, I should be afraid of becoming giddy."
As he was going over the Palace of the Tuileries, they showed him the Salon de la Paix:
"Of what use," he asked, laughing, "was this room to Bonaparte?"
On the day of Louis XVIII.'s entry into Paris, Alexander hid himself behind a window, wearing no mark of distinction, to watch the procession as it passed.
Alexander sometimes had elegantly affectionate manners. Visiting a mad-house, he asked a woman if there were many women "mad through love":
"Not at present," replied she; "but it is to be feared that the number has increased since the moment of Your Majesty's entry into Paris."
One of Napoleon's great dignitaries said to the Tsar: