French Statesman Quotes

Cardinal Richelieu

Joseph Fouché

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès

Émile Ollivier

Duc de Choiseul

Charles Alexandre de Calonne

If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.

Cardinal Richelieu

Of France:

A nation of monkeys with the throat of parrots.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès

"It is more than a crime; it is a political fault," —words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others.

I have always perceived, or nearly so, the defects of those I love; and such defects are the only ones I can see clearly. But for the want of archangels, we must love imperfect creatures.

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau

Madam, if a thing is possible, consider it done; the impossible? that will be done.

Charles Alexandre de Calonne

One is never weaker than when one appears to have everybody's support.

Émile Ollivier

A minister who moves about in society is in a position to read the signs of the times even in a festive gathering, but one who remains shut up in his office learns nothing.

Duc de Choiseul