A silk stocking filled with mud.

The image of a “silk stocking filled with mud” is a compact insult: outward refinement (silk, a marker of elegance and high status) is rendered useless or contemptible by inner filth (mud). As attributed to Napoleon, it is typically read as a judgment on people or institutions that display polish, rank, or fashionable manners while lacking substance, integrity, or competence. The metaphor also implies deception—something that looks luxurious but, when examined, proves base. Without a verifiable occasion or addressee, the safest interpretation is thematic: a critique of superficial gentility masking moral or intellectual emptiness.