"One night in Paris will suffice", or "The women will still give birth"
In Russia and France, there are two similar sayings: «One night in Paris will suffice to» and «The women will still give birth» (i.e. one night of conception will make up for the losses in the bloody battle). The Russian proverb came into use during the years of the Russian-Japanese war and is probably of folklore origin. The phrase about «one night in Paris» was traditionally attributed to the famous commander of the 17 th century Prince de Condé, and from the 20 th century to Napoleon I. It first appeared in the anonymous tragicomedy “Marshal Luxemburg on the Bed of Death” (1695), which was a satire on the French court and French politics. The Condé’s phrase was usually condemned as inhuman, but some authors saw in it a completely rational demographic maxim, expressed in a hyperbolic form.