I am the most un-French Frenchman you will ever meet.
quote by Jean-Marie Messier

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Were the devil to come from hell to fight, there would forthwith be a Frenchman to accept the challenge.
If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French.
quote by Charles de Secondat

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The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.
quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Duello
A Frenchman and an Englishman
Resolved to fight a duel,
And hit upon a savage plan,
Because their hate was cruel.
They each would fire a single shot
In room of darkness pitchy,
And who was killed and who was not
Would hang on fingers twitchy.
The room was bare and dark as death,
And each ferocious fighter
Could hear his fierce opponent's breath
And clutched his pistol tighter.
The Gaston fired - the bullet hissed
On its destructive mission . . .
"Thank God!" said John Bull. "He has missed."
The Frenchman cried: "Perdition!"
Then silence followed like a spell,
And as the Briton sought to
Reply he wondered where the hell
His Gallic foe had got to.
And then he thought: "I'll mercy show,
Since Hades is a dire place
To send a fellow to - and so
I'll blase up through the fireplace."
So up the chimney he let fly,
Of grace a gallant henchman;
When lo! a sudden cry,
And down there crashed the Frenchman . . .
But if this yard in France you tell,
Although its vein be skittish,
I think it might be just as well
To make your Frenchman - British.
poem by Robert William Service

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Frenchman for the Night
Comes a song I've heard before
A scratchy grammaphone
Cuts to the bone
La vie en rose arpeggios
So the dream begins
And the song is amplified
Buy the beaujolais
On Bastille Day
He dances in the tide
Chorus:
By the light of the moon
Hes a frenchman for the night
By the light of the moon
It'll be all right
Well it takes him back
To the days of love and war
And the girl he knew
With eyes of blue
Waiting on the shore
If hed only known
How the years would fly on by
Such a simple crime
Hes run out of time
So he reaches for the sky
Chorus:
By the light of the moon
He's a frenchman for the night
By the light of the moon
It'll be all right
Blame it on the Champs Elysees
Blame it on a tune
Blame it on the stroke of Monet
But you can't escape the moon
You can't escape the moon.
He sees the stars above
As the floor to heaven's light
While the angels taunt
Cest une nuit blanche
He's a frenchman for the night.
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett, music by Jimmy Buffett, Roger Guth (1994)

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I am a guest of the French language. My poems in French are born of my interaction with the French language, which is not the same as that of a French poet.
quote by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Two cows deconstruct Derrida
These two cows were ruminating
and one says, I was listening
to the milkmaid’s transistor
and this French philosopher
was explaining that there’s
no English translation of the French word
‘betise’ except ‘stupidity’ but
‘stupidity’ only refers to man
where the French ‘betise’ means
to behave like an animal…
and the other cow says
well what’s wrong with that
and the first cow says
well his point is, English cows
can’t be stupid; only man
can be stupid..
and the other cow says
well that’s a relief then
so does that mean that French cows
can be stupid
and the first cow says
no because they don’t have a word for it
in French
so the other cow says
so then is it better to be
an English cow
that can’t be stupid
or a French cow
that can’t be called stupid
and the first cow says
who cares, I’ve always said
the French ruminate too much
and then talk bullshit…
and the other cow says
I’m glad I’m a Jersey
what about that French milkmaid
I call sexyhands but
the farmer sometimes calls
a silly cow I wonder what
Derrida would say about that
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Cannot Hide
Can you see me baby
Standing in the light
I feel your cat's eyes on me
Faster in the night
I move inside
Got those eyes
Something's burning baby
That's alright
You and I
Here tonight
Meet me on the other side
'Cause you can do me right
Take me where I cannot hide
'Cause you can do me right
Meet me on the other side
You don't know me girl
I'm faceless in the crowd
The things I could show you baby
Come on, come onto my cloud
I'm alive tonight
Something's falling baby
You and I
Out of the sky I can see it in your eyes
Meet me on the other side
'Cause you can do me right
Take me where I cannot hide
'Cause you can do me right
You need, baby, you're alive
'Cause you can do me right
Take me to the other side
'Cause you can do me right
Meet me on the other side
I speak French today baby.
song performed by by A-Ha

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My way of remaining French was the financing scheme I used for Quest for Fire, with Fox funds, since it started as a 100% American production. The film was not in French and yet was French in style, reflecting my personality.
quote by Jean-Jacques Annaud

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You often meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it.
You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.
French Shoes
He was a good lookin guy
Stood about six foot three
Long brown hair
As nice as he could be
Everybody liked him
But he didnt have a clue
He looked silly as hell
In those funny french shoes
You know the type
Without any heels
Leather soles
Kind of a slip on deal
He was cavalier
Whether hed win or lose
But he looked silly as hell
In those funny french shoes
I know its not right
To judge a man by his clothes
By the way that he looks
Or the people he may know
Im embarrassed to say
If I had to choose
I could never really trust
Any man wearing those funny french shoes
Funny french shoes
Funny french shoes
No man should be wearin
Those funny french shoes
They look good on a womans foot
I must say that they do
But no guy should be wearin
Those funny french shoes
Get some socks on, man!
song performed by by John Mellencamp

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Boys, Hello!
Oh! we love all the French, and we speak in French
As along through France we go.
But the moments to us that are keen and sweet
Are the ones when our khaki boys we meet,
Stalwart and handsome and trim and neat;
And we call to them-'Boys, hello!'
'Hello, American boys,
Luck to you, and life's best joys!
American boys, hello!'
We couldn't do that if we were at home-
It never would do you know!
For there you must wait till you're told who's who,
And to meet in the way that nice folks do.
Though you knew his name, and your name he knew-
You never would say 'Hello, hello, American boy!'
But here it's just a joy,
As we pass along in the stranger throng,
To call out, 'Boys, hello!'
For each is a brother away from home;
And this we are sure is so,
There's a lonesome spot in his heart somewhere,
And we want him to feel there are friends
right there
In this foreign land, and so we dare
To call out 'Boys, hello!'
'Hello, American boys,
Luck to you, and life's best joys!
American boys, hello!'
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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Treat every Frenchman as if he was the devil himself.
quote by Lord Nelson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Remember that everyone you ever meet is sure to fear something, to love something, and to have lost something.
Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something.
Americans In Paris
Americans in Paris
rarely will embarrass
the Frenchies,
who, when they’re in Manhattan
regard as ill-begotten
our wenches,
since they don’t give French kisses
like those a Frenchman’s missus
provides.
Unlike the taxi horn
George scouted, Frenchmen scorn
as girl guides
without baton
Manhattan.
Inspired by a TV performance of “American in Paris” by George Gershwin, performed by the NY Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert in a New Year’s eve concert that included five Cole Porter songs sung by Thomas Hampson, including “Why Gay Paree? ” a favorite of Hampson, who was interviewed by Alec Baldwin before the performance.
12/31/09
poem by Gershon Hepner

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