Top 47 Quotes & Sayings by Jacques Chirac

One month, two months, I am ready to accept any accord on this point that has the approval of the inspectors.

Romania and Bulgaria were particularly irresponsible. If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining Europe they could not have found a better way.

If we prove capable of showing a pioneering commitment, we shall create a commmunity listened to around the world.

One can go to war alone, but you can't build peace alone.

France will insist on the need for updated and responsive institutions.

Terrorism takes us back to ages we thought were long gone if we allow it a free hand to corrupt democratic societies and destroy the basic rules of international life.

If our language, our programs, our creations are not strongly present in the new media, the young generation of our country will be economically and culturally marginalized.

As soon as one nation claims the right to take preventive action, other countries will naturally do the same. If we go down that road, where are we going?

National Missile Defense is of a nature to retrigger a proliferation of weapons, notably nuclear missiles. Everything that goes in the direction of proliferation is a bad direction.

They missed a great opportunity to shut up.

Terrorism has become the systematic weapon of a war that knows no borders or seldom has a face.

The construction of Europe is an art. It is the art of the possible.

These irresponsible acts, which cannot have any justification whatsoever, are to be fully condemned. In these appalling circumstances, I want to offer you the most sincere condolences, both in my name and in that of the French people.

When you are in the family... you have more rights than when you are asking to join and knocking on the door.

Our house is burning and we look elsewhere. Nature, mutilated and over-exploited, can no longer reconstitute itself and we refuse to admit it. Humanity is suffering. It is suffering from poor development, in the North as in the South, and we are indifferent. The Earth and humanity are in peril and we are all responsible. It is time now to open our eyes

I never like to say that I 'believe' anything. There are no ideas worth believing.

This will provide an engine, an example that will allow Europe to go faster, further and better.

For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument Kyoto Protocol of global governance,"..."By acting together, by building this unprecedented instrument, the first component of an authentic global governance, we are working for dialogue and peace.

The Kyoto Protocol...the first component of an authentic global governance.

Our house is burning down and we are blind to it. The earth and humankind are in danger and we are all responsible. It is time to open our eyes. Alarms are sounding across all continents. We cannot say we did not know! Climate warming is still reversible. Heavy would be the responsibility of those who refuse to fight it.

As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.

Franco-American relations have been, and always will be, both conflictual and excellent. The U.S. finds France unbearable with its pretensions; we find the U.S. unbearable with its hegenomism. But deep down, we remember that the 'boys' - came to help us two times, just as the Americans remember that the French helped them with their independence. So there will be sparks but no fire, because a real bond exists.

As soon as one nation claims the right to take preventive action, other countries will naturally do the same.

The authority and influence of France on the world scene in the 21st century will not depend solely on its modernity and cohesion, nor even on the continuity and professionalism of its foreign policy. France will be heeded if it has a message to convey. Faced with the temptations of laissez-faire, France must stand out as the nation with the imagination and determination to pursue an ambition that combines cogency with generosity.

Our approach and our vision ... is identical.

Helping to build a better-organized, fair and harmonious world: that idea lies at the heart of my conception of our country's role. Down through the centuries, France has provided answers to the great questions facing mankind. In continuing to do so, France is responding to a genuine demand, displaying leadership and influencing the course of events.

I am logically in favour of a referendum. It would be the only legitimate way.

As far as France is concerned, we are ready to envisage everything that can be done under UNSCR 1441. [...] But I repeat that every possibility offered by the present resolution must be explored, that there are a lot of them and they still leave us with a lot of leeway when it comes to ways of achieving the objective of eliminating any weapons of mass destruction which may exist in Iraq. I'd like nevertheless to note that, as things stand at the moment, I have, to my knowledge, no indisputable proof in this sphere.

Faced with intolerance and hatred, no debate is possible.

France is deeply upset to learn of the monstrous attacks that have just struck the United States.... In these terrible circumstances, all French people stand by the American people. We express our friendship and solidarity in this tragedy.

The law must have the last word.

Isolated and limited vision problem.

The only thing they (the English) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease.

I am not prepared to accept the economics of a housewife.

I would like to express to all Londoners, to all of the British people, the solidarity, the compassion and the friendship of France and the French people.

You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine. It [Great Britain] is the country with the worst food after Finland.

One does not export democracy in an armored vehicle.

Anything that can hurt the convictions of another, particularly religious convictions, must be avoided. Freedom of expression must be exercised in a spirit of responsibility. I condemn all manifest provocation that might dangerously fan passions.

It is with enormous distress that France has just learned of the monstrous attacks there is no other word for it that have just struck the United States of America. In these horrifying circumstances, the entire people of France, and I want to emphasize this, stand by the people of America. They express their friendship and solidarity in this tragedy. Naturally, I want to assure President Bush of my total support. France, as you know, has always condemned and unreservedly condemns terrorism, and considers that terrorism must be combated by all possible means.

No one can act alone in the name of all and no one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules.

The European Union and Russia have an identical viewpoint. We have condemned any potential revision of the ABM treaty, believing that such a revision will involve a risk of proliferation that will be very dangerous for the future.

What is at stake is how to answer the potential threat Iraq represents with the risk of proliferation of WMD. Baghdad's regime did use such weapons in the past. Today, a number of evidences may lead to think that, over the past four years, in the absence of international inspectors, this country has continued armament programs.

Sovereignty is a question of principle. We must tell the Iraqis: you are a sovereign people. And you are in charge of your own future.

France will never forget the men who agreed to make the supreme sacrifice to liberate our soil, our country, our continent from the yoke of Nazi barbarity. It will never forget what it owes America, our eternal friend. Our two peoples have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the brotherhood of blood spilled.

Finally, a safer world presupposes the revival of the virtuous circle of non-proliferation of weapons and disarmament.

Never before has information been so important, to governments and businesses alike. And please don't imagine that some of you gathered here today may be less concerned than others. Globalization means that the "butterfly effect" is everywhere at work. The mistakes of a stockbroker in Singapore or the collapse of the Baht in Bangkok, the decisions of a Finnish industrial concern, or what the Governor of Minas Gerais in Brazil decides to do about his State's debt, have had consequences for the world as a whole.

King Fahd was also committed to the strong and trusting relations between France and Saudi Arabia. This old friendship, which began with an exceptional link established by General De Gaulle, took on a new dimension under his reign, helped by a shared vision of what was at stake regionally and internationally.