Is France a northern European export powerhouse, or a Mediterranean indebted and dependent economy? Yes to both.

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.

If egoism is there, the benefit of the Self cannot be obtained and if the Self is there, the benefit of egoism cannot be obtained.

...I didn't want you flawless - I have a bare wall at home that's flawless - I wanted your character trapped in the amber of your skin...

Epitaph: An inscription on a tomb showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.

When you're educated, you must offer others a road to success.

I was raised in a family where my father was the first one to go to college.

Blindness enhanced my spiritual life.

I am infinitely strange to myself.

Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.

My children are 12, 12, 8, and 7, which is bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, for mom going inside.

When I was stalking my special lady friend on MySpace, people would always say, 'Is this really Marilyn Manson or some kind of psycho?' And I'm like, 'Both'