Every Frenchman wants to enjoy one or more privileges; that's the way he shows his passion for equality

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

Once upon a time there was an old country, wrapped up in habit and caution. We have to transform our old France into a new country and marry it to its time.

He who laughs last didn't get the joke.

Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.

One can unite the French only under the threat of danger. One cannot simply bring together a nation that produces 265 kinds of cheese.

Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]