I gave myself an objective, to be the second president from Correze and finally to be the successor to Francois Mitterrand.

Austerity need not be Europe's fate.

Today, Paris is the capital of the world.

I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics.

I don't like indecent, unearned wealth. But it is legitimate for an entrepreneur who has created something to make a good living.

If we don't manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it's called war.

There cannot be prosperity without security.

There are tensions abroad where people don't understand our attachment to the freedom of speech, we've seen the protests, and I would say that in France all beliefs are respected.

Each country has a soul, and France's soul is equality.

My real adversary has no name, no face, no party. It will never be elected, yet it governs - the adversary is the world of finance.

To me, it's important to preserve proximity to the people. I wouldn't do anything pretentious, and nothing that hurts the people who voted for me. Triumphalism isn't my thing.

Love is a combination of friendship, passion, and respect.

The small hopes and plans and pleasures of children should be tenderly respected by grown-up people, and never rudely thwarted or ridiculed.

The availability of choice is the downfall of mankind.

The greatest gift you can ever give is yourself.

The names of the plants ought to be stable [certa], consequently they should be given to stable genera.

When I look at how fortunate I've been, being a musician... my response to being overpaid is that I should pay it back to my community in some way.

There is no thing we cannot overcome Say not thy evil instinct is inherited, Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn, And calls down punishment that is not merited.

Spectacles are deaths Harquebuze. [Spectacles are death's arquebuse.]

Music is the best consolation for a despaired man

In the future no human being is to find peace in the enjoyment of happiness if others beside him are unhappy.