Top 219 Quotes & Sayings by Emmanuel Macron - Page 3

I don't want to create a too-big-to-fail player.

I have decided to create a new political movement.

We have to reconcile Europeans with Europe.

There are two projects facing each other. There's Marine Le Pen's project of a fractured, closed France. On the other hand, you have my project which is a republican, patriotic project aiming at... reconciling France.

As to the euro zone avant-garde, it must go towards more solidarity and integration: a common budget, a common borrowing capability, and fiscal convergence.

France will be on the front line in the fight against terrorism.

I want to help with Muslim integration. If you follow the line of Marine Le Pen, you create a civil war.

Our language, history, and civilization shine out across every continent.

We have a great history; we have a great humanist face to put forward to the world.

France has always succeeded because it is part of the world.

Don't leave criticism of the E.U. to those who hate it.

I realised how much the system did not want to change.

You have to learn to fight for things, to bear the burden and have a life which does not in any way correspond to other peoples' lives.

I make no concessions to conformism.

If I were to reason like those who roll out red carpets, I would say we might have some repatriations from the City of London.

I'm a child of provincial France.

Democratic states must have access to content exchanged between terrorists on social media and instant messaging.

We have to accept the idea that Europe will be made on a two-speed basis, with a union based on solidarity and differentiation.

Political experience is political inefficacy.

We have to shift the social model from a lot of formal protections toward loosening bottlenecks in the economy.

People find it difficult to accept something that is sincere and unique.

The 28-member Europe must be simpler, clearer, more efficient, and continue to advance on digital and energy issues.

I'm in a left-wing government, unashamedly... but I also want to work with people from the Right who commit to the same values.

I am not shy. I am for an open society. I am for a progressive world. I do not propose to reform France; I propose to transform it at its deepest level.

We can't start dividing people up into categories. In the past, France has often committed the error of not speaking to everybody because there was a belief that some countries could be neglected.

I have great respect for Angela Merkel, even if we have a lot of differences.

I go out and I say and do what I want - even if people may find that shocking. One could, of course, decide to be suffocated by all the pomp here in Élysée Palace. But if you decide to resist it, then you won't be suffocated.

Michel Houllebecq is surely the novelist who best describes contemporary phobias and fears. He also succeeds perhaps like no other in portraying the postmodern character of our society. He addresses the possibilities of genetics at times, or Islamism, and infuses all of it with a certain amount of absurdity. I get a very strong sense of that in "Submission." The way he toys with the absurd makes him an author sui generis, one who stands out from the others.

I read each evening, at night and whenever possible during the day when I am traveling. I have always read.

For me, Europe consists of three things: sovereignty, unity and democracy.

During the election, I traveled all across the country. I like my country and the French. I love talking with them and convincing them. It is my job each day to fight for my compatriots. But also to not succumb to demagoguery and lies or agree to favors.

If this enormous pressure didn't exist, I wouldn't have been elected. It would have been one of the usual candidates.

Let's put an end to this European civil war, the existence of which we don't want to admit, and stop constantly looking at whether we are better than our neighboring country at this or the other thing. We have to be open to new things, and that includes things that have been taboo until now: France still insists that the treaties cannot be changed. Germany doesn't want any financial transfers. We have to leave these old ways of thinking behind.

Donald Trump is the head of a global power.

I believe we find ourselves in a period of radical transformation. Regardless of whether it is digitalization, the environment or terrorism. We can be successful in this new world. We have the necessary willingness. The French are inventive and innovative. But we need to finally pick ourselves up.

What we learn from the past is that you cannot make peace against people by interfering and - and just launching a war and trying to change a regime without any political solution. So my role is first to avoid any war and try to - to frame the discussion in order to create peace and have a comprehensive peace process and preserve unintelligible and especially in this Middle East region. That's what I tried to do in Lebanon, for instance, by negotiating both with M.B.S., with the Lebanese government.

Amadeus Mozart is to music something like Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was to literature. They are people who created something that nobody before them had. Absolute geniuses. You can recognize their harmonies among thousands.

I refuse to give into the sad reflex of French envy because this envy paralyzes our country.

That might sound shocking to some - and don't worry, I don't see myself as a king.

I had decided that I wanted a dog from an animal shelter. Normally, presidents have purebred dogs, but my is a Labrador-griffon mix. Absolutely adorable.

We will succeed, because we are fully committed, because, wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: Make our planet great again.

There are three possible ways to react to right-wing extremist parties. The first is to act as though they don't exist and to no longer risk taking political initiatives that could get these parties against you. The second reaction is to chase after these right-wing extremist parties in fascination. The third is to say, these people are my true enemies and to engage them in battle.

I titled my book "Revolution." And that is exactly what it is. France is experiencing a time of transformation - in education, on the labor market and in the pensions system. We're talking about a cultural revolution.

I am a strong believer that modern political life must rediscover a sense for symbolism. We need to develop a kind of political heroism. I don't mean that I want to play the hero. But we need to be amenable once again to creating grand narratives.

Europe was initially supposed to be primarily a political project! The EU never would have come about had it been up to experts or diplomats. It was created by people who had learned from the drama of our collective history. I am proposing a new beginning, not one in which it is first deliberated ad infinitum what instruments one needs, but one that follows from the goals we want to achieve.

Whether you like it or not, France's history is unique in Europe. Not to put too fine a point on it, France is a country of regicidal monarchists. It is a paradox: The French want to elect a king, but they would like to be able to overthrow him whenever they want. The office of president is not a normal office - that is something one should understand when one occupies it. You have to be prepared to be disparaged, insulted and mocked - that is in the French nature.

What I am proposing is to start a new chapter in Europe. To begin this adventure anew, and differently, if you'd like. The institutions as such aren't particularly important to me - and I think most people feel the same.

In political life, dissatisfaction is remedied, or at least combated, through action. For as long as you are not totally satisfied, you remain active and keep going. In literary life, at some point you have to stop and allow others to read what you have written. I find that difficult. I am probably too proud. In any case, that is why I have never published anything. But I do plan to do so one day.

France has a special position: We are Continental Europe's nuclear power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. This special role, though, only makes sense if France fills it as a member state of the European Union. France cannot play this role alone, it must be seen as a part of Europe. I have always insisted on that.

Our children and grandchildren visit us regularly in the Élysée Palace . The little ones are constantly running around outside in the garden. The first time they were intimidated by this place, but now they move around here totally normally. I think it is important that people really live in this place.

I thoroughly believe that reading and literature can help a society to better understand itself.

France, of course, doesn't need anyone. I don't believe in saviors. But the way in which our country is governed needs to change radically. That starts with the politicians and goes right up to our electoral system and beyond. What we need is a fundamental renewal.

When we speak about climate change, you're a victim of something ... which is happening with deep roots where you don't have - anything to deal with. And people just want to choose a life. That's very much important. And I think one of the key elements of the collective battle we have today, in order to fight against climate change is to provide people the ability to choose a life. To have a better life by behaving differently, by innovating, by creating new type of companies and startups, new type of activities.

Personally, I don't think it's possible to do great things alone or through individual actions. On the contrary, I think it is only possible to know what to do in a specific moment once you have understood the zeitgeist, and it is only possible to move things forward if you have a sense of responsibility. And that is exactly the goal I have set for myself: to try to encourage France and the French people to change and develop further.

Many European parties, including the conventional parties in France, no longer have the ability to keep people together. And in terms of the coalition government, I am convinced that Angela Merkel has the necessary will and ambition. I want to be very cautious with my statements about her coalition negotiations, but support for Europe is part of the DNA of both the Greens and the Free Democratic Party. I was very pleased that the heads of both parties spoke out positively about the European project.

Every country has its own diplomacy. Being part of Europe doesn't mean giving up one's independence or no longer being able to take the initiative.

Angela Merkel embodies Germany's 20th century fate. It is not up to me to pass judgment on her place in history, but I believe that she is the chancellor of Germany's reconciliation with Europe. She stands for a Germany for whom globalization has been a success and which accepts its role in foreign and defense policy. I thought the way she dealt with the refugees was courageous. I think she is the chancellor of reconciliation.

Ambition is never modest. If modesty means to have middling success, then I can only say: I'm not interested.

My predecessor taxed wealthy, successful people at a higher rate than ever before. And what happened? They left. And what came of it? Did unemployment drop? No.

I don't believe that France is capable of reform - at least not in normal times. Fortunately, we are experiencing exceptional circumstances at the moment. It is a moment in which everything is possible.