Heads Of Government

"Yes, I am Western, and I will remain so."

"I will impose women's freedom and rights by the force of the law, and I will not wait for the democracy of a people duped by male culture in the name of religion."

"They struggle to cut hands and heads and we struggle to keep heads high and hands raised."

"The relationship between a woman and a man is built on the basis of mutual respect .. The woman is not required to bury herself in life because the man is unable to control his instincts like animals .. The woman raises the man's face, hair, height, width, smell, and even the voice of her is roughened, but the woman has learned to control her instincts. The man is also required to rise to the level of the woman."

"I do not think that the time is right to talk about democracy in its absolute concept. Arab societies marginalized their modern thinkers and scholars for the elders who stopped their time before fourteen centuries, which is the difference between us and them .. Therefore, it was necessary to work on spreading a more realistic culture in which modern science has a more open place. Take, for example, if we asked the Tunisian people (he meant former President Bourguiba then and not now) to hold a referendum on his position on women's education, then I can assure that 99.99% will refuse her education."

"When a house is on fire, the neighbors' duty is to put it out. ... I hate colonialism, not the French."

"The only Jews who interest us are our fellow citizens. ... Basically and profoundly, we are with the West."

"While I am alive, not a hair on Jewish heads will be touched."

"We have the proof that our disagreement with the U.A.R. is more than a simple misunderstanding."

"Bourguiba on Gamal Abdel Nasser: "not aware of the danger of Communism. Once the Iron Curtain drops, there is no escape.""

"I have carried this abscess too far, Tunisia is going through a difficult period. Freedom is dangerous."

"At the moment of a revolution there is no question of setting up a democracy like that in America. If they accuse me of dictatorship, I accept. I am creating a nation. Liberty must be suppressed until the end of the war in Algeria—until the nation becomes homogeneous."

"You are wrong. The state and its existence are essential before everything else. All this preoccupation with liberty is not serious."

"How many times, have I had to seat women whom I received at audiences next to me, rather than facing me, in order to avoid general embarrassment? Nothing should compel us to suffer such trials. It puts the nerves of men and the modesty of women to a severe test."

"Bourguiba on people who patronized the Zéro de Conduite (Zero for Conduct), nightclub: "Practice a shameful exhibitionism in morbid and degrading dances.""

"Bourguiba on Ramadan's effect on Tunisia: "Stagnation, weakness and decadence ... beautiful custom ... pretext that paralyzes our activity.""

"Bourguiba quoting Muhammad: "Break the fast, and you will be stronger to confront the enemy. ... humiliating backward condition of our country.""

"Bourguiba warning the French: "it will mean war. ... Today I am the President of the Republic, but I will be the first to join the Maquis. ... Tunisia is always ready to turn the page. ... I have promised the Tunisian people that the French army will go, If I fail, I will be swept away.""

""a dangerous maniac who actually thinks he might become a figure in world affairs." - French Resident General"

"Bourguiba is terribly awkward, but he said what most of us believe. The Egyptians take millions from the Communists and have the nerve to call us lackeys for accepting a penny from America."

"Nasser's Cairo radio on Bourguiba: "the same destiny as Nuri as-Said," (the Iraqi premier who was assasinated)"

""I did not want to be Premier in the first place. I only accepted because Bourguiba pleaded with me to accept." - Interim Premier of Tunisia Tahar ben Amar"

"Give us arms! Give us arms!"

"Bourguiba's Neo-Destour Party paper, the L'Action: "To be respected in 1958 one can no longer be a friend of the West. The day that Bourguiba decides to follow the path set by Nehru, Tito and Nasser, Tunisia will no longer be lied about and attacked. She will be wooed.""

"El Massa from Beirut: "Turn to Cairo, O Habib. Turn to the Arab Republic, to the camp of neutralism and to dignity and sovereignty.""

"Brandt’s first Government Declaration promised a social programme appropriate for what he termed a new participatory democracy. But, though innovative in many respects, his strategy was to expand and consolidate rather than to introduce radical reforms of basic institutional arrangements. In any case, there was no political incentive to do so, since the existing welfare system was popular and had contributed to the economic prosperity that was so evident to the electorate. Social expenditure in the Brandt years broke loose from economic growth rates, rising from one quarter to a third of GDP, the Federal Republic becoming one of the top social spenders in the OECD. This hyperactivity, after the years of careful planning and management during the Grand Coalition, may be explained as a response of the SPD to their long absence from being senior partners in the government. For the first time in the history of the republic they were now in that position and wished to legitimise themselves in the eyes of the electorate as a sound and progressive alternative to the Union parties."

"In our modern world, mass hunger, economic stagnation, environmental catastrophe, political instability, and terrorism cannot be quarantined within national borders."

"It gives me great pleasure to congratulate you on your elevation to the high office of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. You have already done much for your people, as governing Mayor of Berlin and as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor. The admiration and respect you have won throughout the world in these earlier capacities promises much for the discharge of the even greater and more challenging duties you have now assumed. I think you are aware of the confidence you have won throughout the world in years."

"At the beginning of the 1980s the world community faces much greater dangers than at any time since the Second World War. It is clear that the world economy is now functioning so badly that it damages both the immediate and longer-run interests of all nations...The problems of poverty and hunger are becoming more serious; there are already 800 million absolute poor and their numbers are rising; shortages of grain and other foods are increasing the prospect of hunger and starvation...Between 20 and 25 million children below the age of five die every year in developing countries...A number of poor countries are threatened with the irreversible destruction of their ecological systems while many more face growing food deficits and possibly mass starvation. In the international economy there is the possibility of... a collapse of credit with defaults by major debtors, or bank failures... [and] an intensified struggle for influence or control over resources leading to military conflicts."

"What belongs together, is growing together again."

"Un homme né pour les grands vices et les petites actions."

"You are a thief, a coward, a man without faith. You don't believe in God; you have all your life failed in all your duties, you have deceived, betrayed everyone […] Look, sir, you are nothing but shit in silk stockings. (Vous êtes un voleur, un lâche, un homme sans foi. Vous ne croyez pas à Dieu ; vous avez toute votre vie manqué à tous vos devoirs, vous avez trompé, trahi tout le monde […] Tenez, Monsieur, vous n’êtes que de la merde en bas de soie.[This refers to the fact that Talleyrand always dressed in the old aristocratic fashion with breeches and stocking, while the Revolution and the Empire had led to the generalised use of full-length trousers previously used by the lower classes]"

"M. de Talleyrand, the most celebrated wit, courtier, and negotiator of his time. The public life of that celebrated man had not been free from the stains which, in times of frequent and violent change, are almost necessarily contracted by politicians. But it is just to say, that, if he was unfaithful to particular parties and particular families, he was in the main faithful to the interests of his country and to the great principles of government; that, though a revolutionist, he was never a jacobin; and that, though a minister of Napoleon, he had no share in the worst parts of the imperial tyranny."

"His age was venerable, his society was delightful, and there was an exhibition of conservative wisdom, ‘of moderate and healing counsels,’ in all his thoughts, words, and actions very becoming to his age and station, vastly influential from his sagacity and experience, and which presented him to the eyes of men as a statesman like Burleigh or Clarendon for prudence, temperance, and discretion."

"Napoleon was essentially a man of visions and impulses, every conjecture, every trick of circumstance only prompting him to more grand designs, only luring his eye to more untrodden hills. But Talleyrand could not go with him all the way, and, aristocrat at heart, would not consent to be a mute unreasoning tool. Talleyrand's thought was of that withering kind that was so fashionable and attractive in the gilded world of his youth. He talked with a wink and a smile, his sarcasm would charm a salon, and, in repartee, he would cover a sword-thrust with velvet; but always his was the talk of the sceptic rather than the enthusiast, the critic rather than the dreamer; he could be delightfully oblique, he was never daringly grand. He thought best when on the defensive. This is where he differed from his master. This is why he was able to play a sort of second critical self to Napoleon, checking his flights of ambition, softening his intemperate expressions, and moderating his indiscreet outbursts—and, on the positive side, furnishing him expedients rather than grand designs. Hence he was perhaps the man to know Napoleon, and realise the true situation of affairs, better than Napoleon himself."

"They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing (and variations)."

"It is worse than a crime, it is a mistake."

"Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love (of coffee)."

"To betray at the right time means to foresee."

"A diplomat who says "yes" means "maybe", a diplomat who says "maybe" means "no", and a diplomat who says "no" is no diplomat."

"Accessibility on the part of rulers ends by inspiring love rather than respect, and love evaporates at first sign of trouble."

"Financiers flourish only when nations decline."

"There is no sentiment less aristocratic than that of nonbelief."

"The tricolour flag, symbol of revolution, was raised on the cathedral's towers and the bells rang to the frantic acclamation of the crowd. 'Listen to the tocsin! We are triumphing' remarked the Prince de Talleyrand gleefully: 'Who are we?' he was asked: 'Quiet! Not a word. I will tell you tomorrow' was the reply."

"To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool than to discover who is a clever man."

"Qui n'a pas vécu dans les années voisines de 1789 ne sait pas ce que c'est le plaisir de vivre."

"C'est le commencement de la fin."

"Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieilesse vous vous préparez!"

"Je connais quelqu'un qui a plus d'esprit que Napoléon, que Voltaire, que tous les ministres présents et futurs: c'est l'opinion."

"Ce n'est pas un événement, c'est une nouvelle."