Editorial status
misattributed
The sentence was not recorded as Marie Antoinette's response to poverty. Rousseau's earlier text refers to brioche and an unnamed princess; the English ‘cake’ form and royal attribution are later cultural changes.
Source-backed author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau's Confessions records ‘Qu'ils mangent de la brioche’ — ‘Let them eat brioche’ — without naming Marie Antoinette.
Earliest traceable appearance in this record: 1782, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions, book 6; the passage refers to an unnamed princess.