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France has more need of me than I have need of France.

I think France should be free, independent, and be the cultural heart of the world because those play a balance in the world.

We find ourselves in a difficult situation in Europe. There's a crisis, weak growth, unemployment... my duty is to ensure that by the end of my mandate France is in a better state than it was at the beginning.

What the French want is coherence, stability and justice. If I am in a favorable position today, it's because my fellow citizens want to make the effort to straighten out the country, and at the same time they want it to be just and equitable.

France is the bridge between northern Europe and southern Europe. I refuse any division. If Europe has been reunified, it's not for it to then fall into egotism or 'each for one's own'. Our duty is to set common rules around the principles of responsibility and solidarity.

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

We, the French, are viscerally attached to our laicite, our sovereignty, our independence, our values. The world knows that when France is attacked, it is liberty that is dealt a blow.

France will always be France no matter what, but America involves striving toward an ideal.

The French consider themselves the guardians of the world's culture and do not bother to hide the fact, which is annoying, but Paris is still where good Americans want to go when they die - and Brits, Russians, and Chinese as well, these days.

France needs to find something that makes it stand out. It's not enough for it to do almost as well as its neighbors.