Women sometimes forgive a man who forces the opportunity, but never a man who misses one.

Attributed to Talleyrand, the remark frames romantic pursuit in terms of timing and decisiveness: boldness may be excused, but hesitation is remembered as a failure of nerve. It reflects a cynical, courtly worldview in which social and erotic relations are treated like diplomacy—opportunities arise briefly, and success depends on seizing the moment. The line also reveals a gendered assumption common to salon culture: women are imagined as judging men primarily by initiative. Read today, it can be taken less as advice about women than as a broader aphorism about missed chances—regret often attaches more to inaction than to imperfect action.