Quelconque French Quotes

Pardon me, which of us won the crusades? [Responding to French Foreign Minister Stéphen Pichon, who was arguing for for French interest in Syria going back to the crusades.] ~ Faisal I Of Iraq

Racism and inequality are likened to a fungus which grows in dark places and is all the more poisonous because one cannot see it. ~ Michael R. French

A perceptive French critic has argued that in an age of deepening illiteracy, when even the educated have only a smattering of classical or theological knowledge, erudition is of itself a kind of fantasy, a surrealistic construct. ~ George Steiner

I don't know why people are surprised the French don't want to help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France. ~ Jay Leno

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Kane Faucher, Metapharm, Journal of Experimental Fiction #39 ~ Kane X. Faucher

Apart from donkeys, mules and horses, which we continue to eat as before, we have now also eaten most of the dogs and cats as well as a good number of large rats ~ Bosredon Ransijat

Louis XIV was very frank and sincere when he said: I am the State. The modern statist is modest. He says: I am the servant of the State; but, he implies, the State is God. You could revolt against a Bourbon king, and the French did it. This was, of course, a struggle of man against man. But you cannot revolt against the god State and against his humble handy man, the bureaucrat. ~ Ludwig Von Mises

For me to write, I need to work my way back out of one home, consider another, and find the no-man's-land in between. I need to go to one Andre, unwrite that Andre, choose the other Andre across the way, only then go looking for the middle Andre, whose voice will most likely approximate the voice of an Andre able to camouflage all telltale signs that English is not his mother tongue, but that neither is French, nor Italian, nor Arabic. Writing must almost have to fail - it must almost not succeed. If it goes well from the start, if I am in the groove, if I come home to writing, it's not the writing for me. I need to have lost the key and to find no replacement. Writing is not a homecoming. Writing is an alibi. Writing is a perpetual stammer of alibis. ~ Andre Aciman

It is sometimes tougher to fight my superiors than the French. ~ Heinz Guderian

The King did not summon the Estates because he needed them, but out of his own pleasure. ~ Jacques Necker

Francophones are never impressed that anyone else can speak French. ~ David Foster Wallace

I don't think there's a back lot here in Hollywood anymore that has those streets, like a French Quarter. ~ Glenn Danzig

I'm Canadian, but no, I don't speak French. ~ Cory Monteith

We found a table. Nora said: "She's pretty."
"If you like them like that."
She grinned at me. "You got types?"
"Only you, darling - lanky brunettes with wicked jaws."
"And how about the red-head you wandered off with at Quinns' last night?"
"That's silly," I said. "She just wanted to show me some French etchings. ~ Dashiell Hammett

Have I..." I venture, terrified of the potential answer. "Have I gone mad?"

"No, no, no." She says. "Okay, oui, peut-être, that depends. Maybe you have gone a little mad, and only for a little spell. ~ M.D. Elster

Reticence was clearly a national characteristic, even if the other person spoke French. ~ Sara Sheridan

When you look at someone you knew when you were young, you always see the person you first met, ~ Tana French

He asked himself ... whether it was not outrageous for society to treat thus precisely those of its members who were the least well endowed in the division of goods made by chance, and consequently the most deserving of consideration. ~ Victor Hugo

Linguists holding bullhorns hollered, "A bas les Boches! A bas les Marcon! Down with the Boches! Down with the Macaronis! Vive la France!" A mortar crew with the 18th Infantry fired a special shell the size of an ostrich egg. It soared 200 feet into the night, detonated with dazzling pyrotechnic sparkle, and unfurled an American flag, which floated to earth; given a clear target at last, French gunners replied with eager fire. ~ Rick Atkinson

In fact, after having abolished the monarchy, the best of all governments, [the French Revolution] had transferred all the public power to the people - the people ... ever easy to deceive and to lead into every excess ~ Pope Pius VI

Delight is délice, délit is a misdemeanour'
'Well, it's bloody close...'
'Well, they often are.... ~ Alan Hollinghurst

There are reports that French President Francois Hollande had an affair with an actress who is 18 years younger than him. It's pretty serious. Under French law, he could face up to 30 high fives. ~ Jimmy Fallon

Latin, as we all know, ultimately broke down into Spanish, Italian, French, and so on. One wonders whether there will be an imperial parallel with English breaking down into, shall we say, North American, European, Australian, and so on. On the other hand, there is this immense, inward-driving influence of radio and television that is bringing us all back together. One could say it's a fight between the two: a fight between regionalism and the standardization through communication. ~ William Golding

All throughout the Christian ages, and especially since the French Revolution, the Western world has been haunted by the idea of freedom and equality; it is only an idea, but it has penetrated to all ranks of society ... Even the millionaire suffers from a vague sense of guilt, like a dog eating a stolen leg of mutton. ~ George Orwell

Contrary to what certain comedians have led you to believe, the national French pastime is picnicking. ~ Bob Hope

Every French soldier carriers a marshal's baton in his knapsack. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

When the sommelier Enrico Bernardo moved to Paris from Italy nearly two decades ago, the world of French gastronomy brutally rejected him. No matter that he had won the competition for best sommelier in Italy; when he asked 30 restaurateurs for work in their wine cellars, all turned him down. ~ Elaine Sciolino

Of course the French are making very credible movies and it is still one of the greatest nations in terms of world cinema but the real problem is the decay in film criticism. ~ Wim Wenders

I always loved singing, but I thought it was like drawing - just something you do in your own little corner to calm yourself down. But when my friend, the French songwriter Etienne Daho, listened to my songs, he was so moved that told me that I had to do a demo, share them with the world. ~ Lou Doillon

I just dreamed about living in Paris and being French. I always loved the visual arts, film and theatre, and I hoped to be involved in creating beautiful products and images. ~ Maureen Chiquet

Ma vie est une énigme dont ton nom est le mot. (My life is an enigma, of which your name is the word.) ~ Victor Hugo

Would it help if we fucked? Sophie laughed and put her hands to her cheeks in shock. ~ Kitty French