“The desire of privilege and the taste of equality are the dominant and contradictory passions of the French of all times.”

Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.

A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities.

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.

How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over two hundred varieties of cheese?

At the root of our civilization, there is the freedom of each person of thought, of belief, of opinion, of work, of leisure.

Only by coming to grips with difficulty can you realize your full potential.

Genius sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.

My dear and old country, here we are once again together faced with a heavy trial.

All my life I have had a certain idea of France.

You’ll live. Only the best get killed.

Don’t think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

Never relinquish the initiative.

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.

No country without an atom bomb could properly consider itself independent.

Didn’t want to be a star, wanted just to play guitar in this cockamamie business.

Suddenly I’ve got an overwhelming desire to surround myself with the aura of classical and Romantic art.

Vice is perhaps a desire to learn everything.

Always desire to learn something useful.

People have to have a desire within themselves to know who they are and the reason why they are in this body.

I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.

I just have a desire not to judge and view things compassionately.

Acting runs through my blood. There is some sort of creative desire to express myself and I would need that outlet. Otherwise I would be a nightmare to live with.