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Insults and Insulting Quotes about France
How can one conceive of a one party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheeses ?
Charles de Gaulle
A small acquaintance with history shows that all governments are selfish, and the French governments more selfish than most
Lord Eccles
France was long a despotism tempered by epigrams
Thomas Carlyle
It took no more effort than casting a Frenchman into Hell
Dutch saying
Attila, the scourge of God, the French, his brothers
Italian saying
France is a country where the money falls apart in your hands and you can tear the toilet paper
Billy Wilder
The French write other than they speak, and speak other than they mean
German saying
The friendship of the French is like their wine, exquisite, but of short duration
German saying
Paris is like a whore, from a distance she seems ravishing, you can't wait until you have her in your arms. Five minutes later you feel empty, disgusted with yourself. You feel tricked.
Henry Miller
May the French ulcer love you and the Lord hate you.
Arabian curse
France was a long despotism tempered by epigrams.
Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and essayist, History of the French Revolution, 1837
They are a short, blue-vested people who carry their own onions when cycling abroad, and have a yard which is 3.37 inches longer than other people's.
Alan Coren, British humorist
He lies like a French bulletin.
Dutch saying
The Emperor of Germany is the King of Kings; the King of Spain, King of Men; the King of France, King of Asses; the King of England, King of Devils.
French saying current during the reign of Emperor Charles V
When the Frenchman sleeps, the devil rocks him.
French saying
He is like the Gascon; he has but one vice; he is too brave.
French saying
Only a dog or a Frenchman walks after he has eaten.
French saying
To speak French means not to have any sense.
French colonial saying
French pox and a leather vest wear for life.
German saying
The French write other than they speak, and speak other than they mean.
German saying
The friendship of the French is like their wine, exquisite but of short duration.
German saying
They [the French] do everything; they know nothing.
Italian saying
The French don't say what they mean; don't read as they write, and don't sing according to the notes.
Italian saying
Have the Frenchman for thy friend; not for thy neighbour. Nicephorus I, Byzantine emperor
The ignorance of French society gives one a rough sense of the infinite.
Joseph E. Renan, French philologist, religious writer and historian
A fighting Frenchman runs away from even a she-goat.
Russian saying
The Frenchman's legs are thin, his soul little; he's fickle as the wind.
Russian saying
The Englishman is a tippler, the Frenchman is a cur, the Dutchman is a peasant.
Saying
The Italians are wise before the act, the Germans in the act, the French after the act.
Saying
France is a dog-hole.
William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet, All's Well That Ends Well, c.1603
PAUL BOURGET: Life can never be entirely dull to an American. When he has nothing else to do he can always spend a few years trying to discover who his grandfather was.
TWAIN: Right, your Excellency. But I reckon a Frenchman's got a little standby for a dull time too; he can turn in and see if he can find out who his father was.
Mark Twain, US writer
I do not dislike the French from the vulgar antipathy between neighbouring nations, but for their insolent and unfounded airs of superiority.
Horace Walpole, British letter-writer and memoirist
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