Nicolas Sarkozy Quotations

In a presidential campaign, you can't lie. You can't hide what you are and what you want. You can't hide what kind of President you'll be. You can't keep on talking about nothing indefinitely and committing to nothing, you can't keep running away from debate, masking the challenges.

I love life too much to be bitter.

You are the eternal France, I love you.

I hope that France - and all of Europe - we would take an initiative for the year 2012 to be the year of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

I am not a man of my party. I do not talk only to socialists and union leaders.

I want to wage war against illiteracy, poverty, unemployment, unfair competition, communitarianism, delinquency.

I fought for the values of responsibility, and I'm not a man who does not accept his responsibilities.

Francois Hollande is the president of the republic, he must be respected. I want to wish him good luck in the midst of these tests.

The French people need to have all the facts so they can choose. And I won't be running away from it or hiding from it.

It's disrespectful to tell the French in the morning that you're going to reduce the debt, in the evening that you're not going to make any savings, and the next morning, after thinking about it, that you're going to spend more.

France is the country with the highest taxes in Europe along with Sweden... something of which I am not proud.

I don't give any gifts to the rich.

I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people, and more than ever I have the love for my country deeply ingrained in my heart.

Francois Hollande is an intelligent man. I do not have a problem with him. The only thing is, he has never held office at the state level. Honestly, can you imagine Francois Hollande as president of France? Imagine it!

Perhaps the mistake I made at the start of my mandate is not understanding the symbolic dimension of the president's role and not being solemn enough in my acts. A mistake for which I would like to apologise or explain myself and which I will not make again. Now, I know the job.

A page is turning for me. I won't be candidate in legislative elections, nor in any elections to come.

France now has a new president and he must be respected. I assume full responsibility for this defeat.

I committed myself totally, fully, but I didn't succeed in convincing a majority of French... I didn't succeed in making the values we share win.

When there's a misunderstanding, one must make a compromise. This word is not a bad word.

Many people living in these neighborhoods suffer. But nothing can excuse such useless, such blind violence like we saw,

Seventy-nine is naturally too many. The future cannot be built on violence.

Some 85 percent of jobs created in the past 25 years have been in the public sector -- in other words financed by taxes.

One asks himself why a certain number of young French people are in Pakistan in religious schools, ... It's not normal that an individual who lives in our neighborhoods leaves all of a sudden for four months in Afghanistan, three months in Syria. We want to know who is going where, for how long, and when they come back.

Of course there's poverty. Of course there's unemployment,

None of us has a choice, ... We have to succeed. We will not budge a centimeter.

No-one believes that in just three months the situation there has been properly resolved.

Nothing -- I mean nothing -- and no-one -- I mean no-one -- will stop me going through to the end, and trying to be ready for the challenge of 2007,

I am deeply worried because we are seeing an unleashing of violence by 2,000 to 3,000 thugs who come to smash and loot. My objective is to avoid mistakes by the police, so that people can protest in safety.

French people want us to re-establish the order of the republic, ... We will answer their expectation, because we can't build a future in violence.

If some want to do more, they should be allowed to do it,

If someone shoots at the police, he is not a 'youth,' he is a thug,

We must create conditions for dialogue. All this must end as soon as possible, because each day that goes by strengthens conditions for confrontations, for problems, and maybe even for tragedy.

I agree with what the prime minister said. We want selective immigration,

I think some people wanted to exploit this thing for political ends.

Terrorists are using the Internet in an extraordinary way. We will target Internet cafes because we realize terrorists are going to these cafes because they have guaranteed anonymity there,

We no longer want an immigration that is inflicted (on us) but an immigration that is chosen, this is the founding principle of the new immigration policy I advocate.

We are trying to be firm and avoid any provocation,

We are ready to finance every trip back home.

We are not afraid of being isolated or standing alone,

We want to allow families to return to football stadiums and feel safe. It was about time.

There is only one political line, that set by the prime minister.

We will monitor its targeted application on part of the national territory, as events develop, ... We now have the possibility to be even more effective.

The government wants to save this company, ... The worst case would lead to the disappearance of the company, which everyone would regret.

The government's policy is firmness, composure and moderation,

those people that nobody else in the world wants.

We will now be able to act in a preventative manner to avoid these incidents, ... The policy of the government is firm, level-headed and measured.

Either the facts are proved, and in that case there will be disciplinary action, or these are lies and in that case I reserve the right to protect the honor of men whose work allowed lives to be saved. I will publish all elements of this inquiry.

Europe cannot enlarge for ever. We must hold up enlargement at least until institutions have been modernised,

Even before we know the precise results of the analyses (on the products seized), it was better to arrest them before rather than wait until after,

I speak with real words, ... When you fire real bullets at police, you're not a 'youth,' you're a thug.

Things are calming, ... But that doesn't mean it won't restart.

The situation would be schizophrenic, in the morning they would ask us to cut spending and in the afternoon they would want us to pay more to the EU budget.

The threat exists, and it is at a very high level,

The terrorist threat is there, and it is at a very high level,

Some people start further back because they have a handicap - color, culture or the district they come from. So we have to help them.

Your assembly is today called to vote on the means to dissuade and combat one of the most barbarous and pernicious forms of violence: terrorism. The ingredients of this menace exist, the plans for violent action on our soil are real.

this doesn't mean it was fired by a police officer.

This bomb proved to be dangerous because it shattered a train rail, ... We know nothing about this group but we take these threats seriously.

This individual is a specialist in computers and in radio communication services,

It's normal that protests cause bother, but they cannot be held in a way that paralyses the country,

For a period of 12 days, searches will be possible every time we suspect possession of weapons, ... systematically apprehend troublemakers and systematically prevent a spread of violence.

For a period of 12 days, raids will be possible every time that we have a suspicion of a stockpiling of weapons,

The attitude is that the people are French before they are anything else,

I want these people to be able to live in peace.

Once the crisis is over, everyone will have to understand there are a certain number of injustices in some neighborhoods. We are trying to be firm and avoid any provocation. We have to avoid any risk of explosion, ... scum.

Once this crisis is overcome and calm is restored, each must also understand that there's also a certain feeling of injustice in some neighborhoods, ... I have thought this for a long time, and said it as well.

Immigration laws allow expulsions. I am the interior minister and I will apply the law...All those who wish to commit acts of violence will be brought to justice,

I'm worried by the situation in Corsica, ... degenerate.

If we want to restore hope to the French people, great changes are essential.

If you intervene too early we do not have the legal proof about what they are preparing. If you intervene too late, we become victims,

I remain convinced that the problems we have in the suburbs have been going on for 30 to 40 years.

If you want to have me say that it would have been better to have not launched into this affair, I rather agree. But once we were there, it was necessary to find a way out of it, quickly and as painless as possible.

Being able to find a compromise is about being brave and serving France. It is what the UMP asks for and expects.

By accepting people to whom we unfortunately cannot propose work or housing, we are finding ourselves in a situation where we are having tragedies like this,

I challenge the idea that we all start at the same starting line in life.

There are remuneration packages that will no longer be tolerated because they bear no relation to merit. That those who create jobs and wealth may earn a lot of money is not shocking. But that those who contribute to destroying jobs and wealth also earn a lot of money is morally indefensible.

Canadians are friends and Quebecers are my family. What France knows deep down is that within this great Canadian people, there is a Quebec nation. I do not see how proving my family, brotherly love for Quebec should be strengthened by defying Canada.

The French people have chosen change. This change I will put into place.

I understand that people might be poor if they don't have any work, but I don't accept that someone is poor if they've worked really hard.

You won't hear from me again.

Being able to find a compromise is about being brave and serving France.

We must defend freedom of expression and if I had to chose, I prefer the excess of caricature over the excess of censure.

From the very beginning, the American dream meant proving to all mankind that freedom, justice, human rights and democracy were no utopia but were rather the most realistic policy there is and the most likely to improve the fate of each and every person.

To be a young Gaullist is to be a revolutionary!

We live in a world where people don't all have the same scruples, where all blows can be given, and where, in order to down somebody, all means can be used. Nothing will lead me astray from the path that I have chosen.

What is dangerous is not minarets, but basements and garages that hide clandestine places of worship. Thus we must choose between mosques, where we know that the rules of the republic are respected, and secret places where extremism has been developing for too long,.

If you come to France and you wear a veil, if you go to one of the administrative buildings, then that's not acceptable. If you don't want your wife to be examined by a male doctor, then you're not welcome here. France is a country that's open.

We want to put a stop to tax havens. We want results on this, with a list of tax havens and a series of consequences.

With the world in turmoil and doubt, the American people, faithful to the values that have always defined America's identity, have expressed with force their faith in progress and the future. At a time when we must face huge challenges together, your election has raised enormous hope in France, in Europe and beyond.

I am showing solidarity while being different. Or if you prefer, I am being different while being in solidarity.

We need to profoundly revise all of our taxes and charges. The aim is to tax pollution - notably fossil fuels - more, and tax work less

France is the country with the highest taxes in Europe along with Sweden...something of which I am not proud.

Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent.

War has been declared on France...

The French like burgers, Madonna and Miami Vice.

If living in France bothers some people, they should feel free to leave the country.

France must not be the only country to have a high level of welfare protection and few obligations incumbent on those who receive benefits.

America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who-with their hands, their intelligence and their heart-built the greatest nation in the world: "Come, and everything will be given to you." She said: "Come, and the only limits to what you'll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent."

Nothing is more destructive than the gap between people's perceptions of their own day-to-day economic well-being and what politicians and statisticians are telling them about the economy

Not to intermarry racially is bad for the survival of the country.