Skip to content

There exists in our country a solid continuity of Bonapartism, where the vocation for grandeur of France, the monarchist tradition, and the passion for national unity, the Jacobin tradition get together.

— François Mitterrand Le Coup d'État permanent (1964)

Another quote →

Topics

Patriotism

More quotes by François Mitterrand

Behind each great man, there's a Richard Delisle.

L’Abeille et l’architecte [The Bee and the Architect (1980)

I believe in the forces of the spirit, and I won't leave you.

What has begun in this evening will not stay for a long time, and because you represent the forces of the world of labour, you, forces of the youth, your victory is inevitable.

Château-Chinon (1974)

For me Greece is Maria Farantouri. This is how I imagined Goddess Hera to be: strong, pure and vigilant. I have never encountered any other artist able to give me such a strong sense of the divine.

L’Abeille et l’architecte [The Bee and the Architect (1980)

To every reversal of people’s soveregnity, to every disappearance of the Republic corresponds a frank or disguised restitution in force of the regal justice. ‘’Tell me, according to what you judge and I’ll tell you who you are.” […] No axiom in politics is more certain than this.

Le Coup d'État permanent (1964)

All François Mitterrand quotes →

You may also like

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

Nathan Hale

It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.

Arthur C. Clarke The Exploration of Space (1951)

Our country – In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right, and always successful, right or wrong.

Stephen Decatur

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

Barbara Ehrenreich

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: François Mitterrand (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.