“I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win.”
— Mata Hari
From Mata Hari's 1917 interrogation by Captain Bouchardon at Saint-Lazare prison, Paris. Recorded in official French military transcripts.
They asked me to explain myself in that cold room at Saint-Lazare. I had lost my son, my career, my freedom. But I refused to perform regret for men who had already decided my fate. I told them the truth: I lived fully, and I paid the price. If you are afraid of losing, you will never allow yourself to win. Play your hand.