François Mitterrand

“A little disorder is a good thing.”

“Force is the law of the beasts.”

“The future lasts a long time.”

“We must give time to time.”

“Nationalism is war.”

“History is a series of coincidences. But it is also a series of encounters.”

“You don't govern with 'good feelings,' but with a budget.”

“There are two kinds of statesmen: the diplomats and the prophets. The diplomats have an easy time of it... but the prophets are stoned.”

“One does not wage war against a people, but against a government.”

“A politician is a man who can be verbose in fewer words than anyone else.”

“The right to be different is a fundamental human right.”

“And then, in the final analysis, what does it mean to die? It is a moment of life.”

“Europe is our homeland.”

“The union of the left is a combat.”

“The strength of an idea is in its ability to be realized.”

“I have two great qualities: I am not ambitious and I am not in a hurry.”

“I believe in the virtues of friendship, and I would not want to leave this world without having tasted them.”

“I am the last of the great presidents.”

“To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible.”