What's very important is that we build a space that matters in the world, one that operates according to democratic rules, and that small and large countries enjoy a good relationship.

There have been major disagreements within the European Union.

We must stress that the euro has been beneficial to the European Union because, otherwise, in this context of international turmoil, every country would have to devalue their currencies.

Let them be reassured, it has never been one of our intentions to ban religion in society, but solely to protect the national education system from any conspicuous display of religious affiliation.

We shall say clearly that any symbol conspicuously displaying religious affiliation in school is prohibited.

I was a Member of the European Parliament for a period of time and I saw a lot of European laws and treaties.

I tell fundamentalists that there is no question of them attacking our Republic's foundations.

But the Republic has its rules and it must not tolerate any abuse of them.

I believe that transatlantic relations are very important and that President Bush's visit to Brussels, in a few days, will have a major impact on that.

I think that the proposed constitution is one of the European legal documents with the strongest social dimension I have seen since I began following European issues.

The United States, for a French citizen, is a friend, an ally, to whom we owe, along with most Europeans, our freedom.

Children judge each other harshly, but don't make nice distinctions among the grown.

Unto those who have, it shall, uncannily, be given.Unto those who have not, it shall, uncannily, be taken away.

Every civilisation has had its irrational but reassuring myth. Previous civilisations have used their culture to sing about it and tell stories about it. Ours has used its mathematics to prove it.

But it is hard, whatever you have endured, to give up on love. Hard to stop thinking of it as a home you might one day find again. More than hard

The things I carry closest to my heart are things I can't own.

What happened to Haiti is a threat that could happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations, you know, because of global warming, because of climate change and all this.

Somebody has said, that a king may make a nobleman but he cannot make a gentleman.

There's life all over this universe, but the only life in the solar system is on earth, and in the whole universe we are the only men.

There will always be those people who are just backward and ignorant. There will always be those people. They need somebody to feel superior to.

Most people are doing the best they can, given what they know and understand, including you. If they knew more and were aware of more, they would do things differently.