“I would sooner want a strong partnership with the United States – even with (US President George W.) Bush, who I think is the worst president in a long, long time. I would sooner want a friendship with Bush than with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

The European Union should not be prescribing an identity. We know what that’s like, when a government tells its people how it should look; what it should be doing. That’s the first step towards totalitarianism.

I work even when I am on vacation. You know that line by Stéphane Mallarmé, “All earthly existence must ultimately be contained in a book”? I am the kind of person who finds life interesting only if it is translated into writing, if it is parsed into words.

There is a true weakness in American thought today: their incapacity to be interested in the intelligence of evil.

In general, Europeans need to get a wider perspective on the problem of Islamism.

I would hope that Europe always has a privileged relationship with the United States. The alternatives are not attractive.

God is dead but my hair is perfect.

A politician has finally understood that politics is not only about the closing of a mine in Ohio-it is also about the will to reach out, to embrace the world of today’s young Americans. That way, young Americans may eventually reconcile with politics.

The terrorists exist, and I think we must speak to them, not to establish a dialogue-since for serious terrorists that is unfortunately out of the question – but to learn how their brains work, to be better able to fight them.

Look at writer and political theorist Charles Maurras in France. The philosopher Martin Heidegger in Germany. The radical Islamists of today!

Europe needs to develop a sense of collective history – we need to write books from a European perspective, to teach it in schools as well.

I really like the United State, its relationship to space and time, its interest in mobility, its cosmopolitanism.

America creates myths by focusing a lot of energy on its history and using it – – not always, but sometimes – for constructive purposes.

I reject the idea that there is some sort of existential “clash of civilizations.” I am an interventionist, but not a militarist. War should always be a last resort.

France is a country where thinking is supposed to be furtive, invisible, almost clandestine. France is a country of cliques and sects.

The euro is a great achievement. It’s a symbolic achievement. But, the European constitution was a missed opportunity.

The only successful revolution of this century is totalitarianism.

Well, I’ve had a long standing relationship with Gatorade and they’ve been very, very good to me. And I believe in their products, I really do. I’ve used them for many, many years.

I’m always happy when actors get rich, because the odds on it are so long!

Nostalgia: How long’s that been around?

I don’t have a good attention span and can’t spend long in record stores or video shops or games emporiums without getting grumpy.

It took me a long time to get to where I’m at, in my career and as a man. I was going through my trials and tribulations in life, and it gave me the strength to tackle things that have come my way.

Socialism violates at least three of the Ten Commandments: It turns government into God, it legalizes thievery and it elevates covetousness.

The world has to change to fit you. And if you stick to your principles, values and morals long enough, it will.

One of the reasons for The Walt Disney Company’s long- term success is really the first of Dr. Deming’s famous points, “create constancy of purpose.” In his professional career,