We are all hoping that he will recover his legendary vitality as quickly as possible, ... Chi-rac! Chi-rac!

If you come to France and you wear a veil, if you go to one of the administrative buildings, then that's not acceptable. If you don't want your wife to be examined by a male doctor, then you're not welcome here. France is a country that's open.

Nothing - I mean nothing - and no-one - I mean no-one - will stop me going through to the end, and trying to be ready for the challenge of 2007.

The French people have chosen change. This change I will put into place.

Success and social promotion are not some right that anybody can claim after queuing at some [government office]. It is better: it is a right, a right that one can merit because of one's sweat.

Nothing is more destructive than the gap between people's perceptions of their own day-to-day economic well-being and what politicians and statisticians are telling them about the economy

I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people, and more than ever I have the love for my country deeply ingrained in my heart.