The assertion was made by Nicolas de Chamfort.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nicolasdec156671.html
History records two "suicide notes," one scrawled in his own blood and another uttered on his deathbed.
" He attempted suicide in September 1793 with pistol and poniard; and, horribly hacked and shattered, dictated to those who came to arrest him the well-known declaration:
“Moi, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort, declare avoir voulu mourir un homme libre plutôt que d'etre reconduit en esclave dans une maison d'arrêt.”
"I, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort, declare that I wished to die a free man rather than be enslaved in a house of detention."
Chamfort signed his famous death note in a firm hand and in his own blood. He did not die at once, but lingered on until April 13, 1794, in the charge of a gendarme, to whom he paid a crown a day. To the Abbé Sieyès, Chamfort spoke his supreme sarcasm: “Ah! mon ami, je m'en vais enfin de ce monde, où il faut que le coeur se brise ou se bronze.”
"My friend, I'm finally taking leave of this earth, a place where one's heart must either break or be hard as bronze.""
statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Chamfort no longer exists and
billcasselman.com/opening_page_two/chamfort_bio.htm also no longer exists
