French Quotes

The French language is considered by many to be the pinnacle of beauty.  As support for this opinion, they cite things like its sensuality, its poetry, and all the cultural associations that go with the language.  When such people speak of the French language, their eyes light up and you can see in them the Eiffel Tower, fine wines and cheeses, and probably some baguettes and croissants.  They will speak of the romance of the people, obviously reflected in the passionate and sexy language they speak. 
On the other side of this, you will find people who tend to abhor the language as stuffy, fussy, and downright raunchy sounding.  The language is also associated with a people and culture that, accurate or not, are often considered rude and arrogant (corroborated by a survey done by www.news.com.au who found that the French are considered the worst tourists, "winning" as the most impolite).  While one may think that this disparity would be reflected by French quotes and sayings, they do seem to fit into one of two categories: either romantic or snarky/sarcastic/mean.  A sampling of famous French quotes will show that the culture and people of this country go far beyond such stereotypes, whether they apply to many of the people or not.  However you feel about the French language as the people of France, consider the following famous quotes and quotes by famous Frenchpeople and gain an understanding into another dimension of French culture as well as human thought.  In this article, you will find famous French quotes translated as opposed to famous French quotes in French.  It's the idea we're going for, not the actual sound of the words. 

Let's start with the good, shall we? Here's one of those famous French love quotes by George Sand, a romantic writer who lived from 1804-1876, wrote "There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved." Now, in terms of quotes, it doesn't really get better than that. In this quote, we see justification for the phrase "joie la vivre", the joy of life, having become one commonly used in our lexicon. We also understand why we still use the words "laissez-faire" to describe the idea of letting businesses operate rather freely, doing what they will with little or no government regulation and interference. Is there anyone who could truly disagree with the idea that the most important, indeed the only important thing in life is love? Not the romantic love of lust and passion, but universal love. I say good on "Monsieur" George Sand (he was actually a woman) for putting this into words.

Another quote, which holds true for most countries around the world and even, in recent times, in supposedly democratic America, comes from a famed French philosopher, writer, and playwright Voltaire.  Considered one of the greatest French writers and thinkers, Voltaire has said "It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong".  Along the same vein was his quote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".  Here we see the free-thinking and ideals that are the foundation of democracy, in a country where the ruling elite were overthrown in a popular revolution and rule by the people, for the people was instated in a way that was more dramatic than the birth of democracy in America.  While the quote about the danger of going against authority applied in his day and age, a time in which such insubordination was punishable by death and torture, it is no less relevant today.  In America, we had a "War on Terror" where American citizens speaking their conscience on what they considered to be an unjust war of agression waged by their beloved country were labelled "un-American" and oftentimes worse.  There have even been calls to investigate people holding such views by congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.  What's next, do we need to bring back McCarthyism to make sure people are thinking along acceptable lines?  Perhaps we need to be reading more Voltaire… Indeed, one could write hundreds of articles focusing on the pithy and incisive quotes of this brilliant Frenchman.  And just so we can get it straight that he had that streak of cynicism when it came to human nature, too, we'll leave off Voltaire with this goodie:
"Common sense is not so common."

Returning to the topic of love, here is another of the famous french quotes about love from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of that beloved classic "The Little Prince": "Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction".  An awesome quote which points to the potential to grow beyond the initial lustful attraction that we tend to focus on.  Perhaps if we thought in this way more, as opposed to having the idea of finding someone "perfect", there would be more of an abundance of harmonious relationships and less divorce?     

Though this hub has only introduced French quotes from three Frenchmen, it is interesting to note that they are as relevant today as they were when quoted more than a hundred years ago.  What's also interesting is that we have similar quotes in English.  Whether these originated in French and spread to English-speaking countries or vice versa, or whether different cultures arrived at them indepently, I cannot say.  The thing that is for certain is that these quotes are very good at getting us to think about the important things in life.