You can be horrified by the state of the prisons, the misery in certain neighborhoods of its cities, or their level of poverty. Anti-Americanism, by which I mean a hatred for America as such-its transformation into a metaphysical category, which incarnates all the evil in the world-is one of fascism's favorite themes. Look at writer and political theorist Charles Maurras in France. The philosopher Martin Heidegger in Germany. The radical Islamists of today!

Europe has certainly lost confidence in itself. This was something that, when I was a young man, we never imagined would happen.

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

God is dead but my hair is perfect.

In general, Europeans need to get a wider perspective on the problem of Islamism. Even if the Israel-Palestine question were solved - and I think and hope that one day soon it will be - this wouldn't stop one person from becoming a terrorist.

I don't really believe in dialogue; I am too Nietzschean for that. We need to have a warrior conception of philosophy.

The conservatives want to revolutionize the world all at once. And that's a dangerous proposal.