I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?

Always choose the hardest way, on it you will not find opponents

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.

You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.

He who laughs last didn't get the joke.

From looking at your neighbor and realizing his true significance, and that he will die, pity and compassion will arise in you for him and finally you will love him.

Perfume companies ought to bottle the smell of crisp bacon. Forget pheromones. I’ll bet a woman with a little spot of bacon grease behind her ears would attract every male within a five-mile radius.

Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.

Fiction writers can’t be trusted. They make things up.

The Law of Probabilities: the more things you try, the more likely one of them will work.

My wife's gotten really lazy, or as she calls it, 'pregnant.'

The bigger the show, the better I'd play. It was what I was waiting for, and I'd never get nervous.

The soul needs attention like the body needs to breath.

I know the world expects me to have superpowers, and it'll be quite a disappointment. But I just play myself.

Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story.