Saturday, 26 February 2022

But you are absolutely correct, Mr Prime Minister

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CHIRAC: Allow me to say that tonight, I am not Prime Minister and you are not the President. We are two candidates who are equal and who are...
Friday, 25 February 2022

Have you never been struck by the fact that communists are more numerous in Catholic than in Protestant countries?

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You have to understand what communism represents in a Catholic country. Have you never been struck by the fact that communists are more nume...
Thursday, 24 February 2022

He always hung on to a position far longer than was reasonable and then made a sudden, bold, reckless leap into the unknown

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It [opposing the return of De Gaulle] was typical of him. He always hung on to a position far longer than was reasonable and then made a sud...
Wednesday, 23 February 2022

I did not marry you under the regime of the Inquisition

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Mitterrand was more than difficult as a husband: he was often impossible. He demanded absolute freedom and found the slightest constraint im...
Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Our imbecile grandchildren will think they are beautiful because they are old

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Vichy is a dreadful place (not disagreeable, not boring, but ugly). There is nothing to attract the eye  - bloated, jowly hotels, built in r...
Monday, 21 February 2022

Stubbornly held his finger a millimetre away from an object he had been forbidden to touch, insisting he was not disobedient and was doing nothing wrong

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His brothers recalled a different Francois [Mitterrand], who slid down banisters; fidgeted so much in church that he caused a scandal by fal...
Sunday, 20 February 2022

De Gaulle represented 'mastery over oneself, which meant mastery over history'

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 To Mitterrand, de Gaulle represented 'mastery over oneself, which meant mastery over history'. After the General's death, he co...