French President Quotes

Charles de Gaulle

Emmanuel Macron

Nicolas Sarkozy

François Hollande

Napoleon III

François Mitterrand

Jacques Chirac

I talk. It is necessary. Action puts the passions to work, but it is speech that arouses them.

Charles de Gaulle

Long, so long, have you held the warrior's black face Between your hands as if it glowed already with some deadly Twilight. From the hillside I have seen the sun set In the bays of your eyes. When will I see my country again, The pure horizon of your face? When will I sit again At the table of your dark breasts?

Léopold Sédar Senghor

I believe in the forces of the spirit, and I won't leave you.

François Mitterrand

A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service.

Georges Pompidou

Never make up with extremism, racism, antisemitism or rejecting whoever is different.

Germany's population was increasing, her industries were intact, she had no factories to reconstruct, she had no flooded mines. Her resources were intact, above and below ground... In fifteen or twenty years Germany would be mistress of Europe. In front of her would be France with a population scarcely increased.

Raymond Poincaré

Joking about Emmanuel Macron:

He's a bit of a man and a bit of a woman, as he's in fashion now. Androgynous.

Nicolas Sarkozy

The first time that I went to the United States was in 1974... I was 20 years old. America was in crisis. The dollar was at a low. The Watergate scandal had already erupted. And I still remember this vision I had of New York, which was a huge, fascinating city, dirty and violent. And I've been to the U.S. regularly, but what impresses me most in this large nation is its capacity to overcome hardship and return to the heights.

François Hollande

In politics evils should be remedied not revenged.

Putin rejected the diplomatic path and chose the path of war. We will take full responsibility for defending the sovereignty of our allies.

Emmanuel Macron