5e9d8e4
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I hate France. It's like the whole country's on a diet
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food
france
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Gordon Korman |
205112d
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They left me. My parents actually left me! IN FRANCE!
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france
paris
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Stephanie Perkins |
fd842d8
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"You are hard at work madam ," said the man near her. Yes," Answered Madam Defarge ; " I have a good deal to do." What do you make, Madam ?" Many things." For instance ---" For instance," returned Madam Defarge , composedly , Shrouds." The man moved a little further away, as soon as he could, feeling it mightily close and oppressive ."
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funny
humor
shrouds
rude
revolution
mob
france
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Charles Dickens |
3857a0d
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The two main criminals are France and the United States. They owe Haiti enormous reparations because of actions going back hundreds of years. If we could ever get to the stage where somebody could say, 'We're sorry we did it,' that would be nice. But if that just assuages guilt, it's just another crime. To become minimally civilized, we would have to say, 'We carried out and benefited from vicious crimes. A large part of the wealth of France comes from the crimes we committed against Haiti, and the United States gained as well. Therefore we are going to pay reparations to the Haitian people.' Then you will see the beginnings of civilization.
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wealth
history
french-imperialism
reparations
civilisation
imperialism
united-states
apologies
haiti
crime
france
guilt
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Noam Chomsky |
bb57dc7
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Long before it was known to me as a place where my ancestry was even remotely involved, the idea of a state for Jews (or a Jewish state; not quite the same thing, as I failed at first to see) had been 'sold' to me as an essentially secular and democratic one. The idea was a haven for the persecuted and the survivors, a democracy in a region where the idea was poorly understood, and a place where--as Philip Roth had put it in a one-handed novel that I read when I was about nineteen--even the traffic cops and soldiers were Jews. This, like the other emphases of that novel, I could grasp. Indeed, my first visit was sponsored by a group in London called the Friends of Israel. They offered to pay my expenses, that is, if on my return I would come and speak to one of their meetings. I still haven't submitted that expenses claim. The misgivings I had were of two types, both of them ineradicable. The first and the simplest was the encounter with everyday injustice: by all means the traffic cops were Jews but so, it turned out, were the colonists and ethnic cleansers and even the torturers. It was Jewish leftist friends who insisted that I go and see towns and villages under occupation, and sit down with Palestinian Arabs who were living under house arrest--if they were lucky--or who were squatting in the ruins of their demolished homes if they were less fortunate. In Ramallah I spent the day with the beguiling Raimonda Tawil, confined to her home for committing no known crime save that of expressing her opinions. (For some reason, what I most remember is a sudden exclamation from her very restrained and respectable husband, a manager of the local bank: 'I would prefer living under a Bedouin to another day of Israeli rule!' He had obviously spent some time thinking about the most revolting possible Arab alternative.) In Jerusalem I visited the Tutungi family, who could produce title deeds going back generations but who were being evicted from their apartment in the old city to make way for an expansion of the Jewish quarter. Jerusalem: that place of blood since remote antiquity. Jerusalem, over which the British and French and Russians had fought a foul war in the Crimea, , on the matter of which Christian Church could command the keys to some 'holy sepulcher.' Jerusalem, where the anti-Semite Balfour had tried to bribe the Jews with the territory of another people in order to seduce them from Bolshevism and continue the diplomacy of the Great War. Jerusalem: that pest-house in whose environs all zealots hope that an even greater and final war can be provoked. It certainly made a warped appeal to my sense of history.
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war
history
christianity
ancestry
antisemitism
arabs
armageddon
arthur-balfour
bedouin
bolshevism
britain
colonialism
crimea
crimean-war
democracy
diplomacy
ethnic-cleansing
fanaticism
france
free-speech
house-arrest
israel
jerusalem
jews
leftism
london
palestine
palestinians
persecution
raimonda-tawil
ramallah
religious-extremism
russia
territory
world-war-i
zealotry
philip-roth
secularism
oppression
torture
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Christopher Hitchens |
b679947
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I regard anti-Semitism as ineradicable and as one element of the toxin with which religion has infected us. Perhaps partly for this reason, I have never been able to see Zionism as a cure for it. American and British and French Jews have told me with perfect sincerity that they are always prepared for the day when 'it happens again' and the Jew-baiters take over. (And I don't pretend not to know what they are talking about: I have actually seen the rabid phenomenon at work in modern and sunny Argentina and am unable to forget it.) So then, they seem to think, they will take refuge in the Law of Return, and in Haifa, or for all I know in Hebron. Never mind for now that if all of world Jewry settle in Palestine, this would actually necessitate further Israeli expansion, expulsion, and colonization, and that their departure under these apocalyptic conditions would leave the new brownshirts and blackshirts in possession of the French and British and American nuclear arsenals. This is ghetto thinking, hardly even fractionally updated to take into account what has changed. The important but delayed realization will have to come: Israeli Jews are the diaspora, not a group that has escaped from it. Why else does Israel daily beseech the often-flourishing Jews of other lands, urging them to help the most endangered Jews of all: the ones who rule Palestine by force of arms? Why else, having supposedly escaped from the need to rely on Gentile goodwill, has Israel come to depend more and more upon it? On this reckoning, Zionism must constitute one of the greatest potential non sequiturs in human history.
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history
religion
argentina
british-jews
expansionism
french-jews
haifa
israelis
hebron
zionism
law-of-return
jewish-diaspora
gentiles
israeli-palestinian-conflict
nuclear-weapons
united-states
atheism
fascism
antisemitism
britain
colonialism
france
israel
jews
palestine
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Christopher Hitchens |
f226cf5
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Like the magnolia tree, She bends with the wind, Trials and tribulation may weather her, Yet, after the storm her beauty blooms, See her standing there, like steel, With her roots forever buried, Deep in her Southern soil.
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carolina-rain
civil-war-romance-novella
nancy-b-brewer
civil-war
historical-romance
historical-fiction
france
|
Nancy B. Brewer |
595c0bc
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...it has always been my temperament to prefer a tiny amount of the excellent to a plenitude of the mediocre...
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military
historical-fiction
france
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Robert Harris |
9ecc1b8
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If I walked down by different streets to the Jardin du Luxembourg in the afternoon I could walk through the gardens and then go to the Musee du Luxembourg where the great paintings were that have now mostly been transferred to the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume. I went there nearly every day for the Cezannes and to see the Manets and the Monets and the other Impressionists that I had first come to know about in the Art Institute at Chicago. I was learning something from the painting of Cezanne that made writing simple true sentences far from enough to make the stories have the dimensions that I was trying to put in them. I was learning very much from him but I was not articulate enough to explain it to anyone. Besides it was a secret. But if the light was gone in the Luxembourg I would walk up through the gardens and stop in at the studio apartment where Gertrude Stein lived at 27 rue de Fleurus.
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museums
ernest-hemingway
france
paris
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Ernest Hemingway |
2208287
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Dukhi zhivut vo vremeni; u nikh est' svoia molodost', svoia zrelost' i svoia starost'. I tol'ko esli oni vo vsekh triokh vozrastakh istochaiut odinakovo priiatnyi aromat, ikh mozhno schitat' udachnymi.
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parfume
parfumer
parfumerie
parfumes
парфюмер
france
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Patrick Süskind |
34a1078
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My wife and I had called on Miss Stein, and she and the friend who lived with her had been very cordial and friendly and we had loved the big studio with the great paintings. I t was like one of the best rooms in the finest museum except there was a big fireplace and it was warm and comfortable and they gave you good things to eat and tea and natural distilled liqueurs made from purple plums, yellow plums or wild raspberries. Miss Stein was very big but not tall and was heavily built like a peasant woman. She had beautiful eyes and a strong German-Jewish face that also could have been Friulano and she reminded me of a northern I talian peasant woman with her clothes, her mobile face and her lovely, thick, alive immigrant hair which she wore put up in the same way she had probably worn it in college. She talked all the time and at first it was about people and places. Her companion had a very pleasant voice, was small, very dark, with her hair cut like Joan of Arc in the Boutet de Monvel illustrations and had a very hooked nose. She was working on a piece of needlepoint when we first met them and she worked on this and saw to the food and drink and talked to my wife. She made one conversation and listened to two and often interrupted the one she was not making. Afterwards she explained to me that she always talked to the wives. The wives, my wife and I felt, were tolerated. But we liked Miss Stein and her friend, although the friend was frightening. The paintings and the cakes and the eau-de-vie were truly wonderful. They seemed to like us too and treated us as though we were very good, well-mannered and promising children and I felt that they forgave us for being in love and being married - time would fix that - and when my wife invited them to tea, they accepted.
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gertrude-stein
france
paris
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Ernest Hemingway |
573a9bc
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Sea and land may lie between us, but my heart is always there with you.
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southern
historical-romance
historical-fiction
france
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Nancy B. Brewer |
b446d57
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and let's face it, the French Army couldn't beat a girls hockey team
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france
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Bill Bryson |
4269491
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The guillotine is the ultimate expression of Law, and its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral. All social questions achieve their finality around that blade. The scaffold is an image. It is not merely a framework, a machine, a lifeless mechanism of wood, iron, and rope. It is as though it were a being having its own dark purpose, as though the framework saw, the machine listened, and the mechanism understood; as though that arrangement of wood and iron and rope expressed a will. In the hideous picture which its presence evokes it seems to be most terribly a part of what it does. It is the executioner's accomplice; it consumes, devouring flesh and drinking blood. It is a kind of monster created by the judge and the craftsman; a spectre seeming to live an awful life born of the death it deals.
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scaffold
executioner
execution
france
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Victor Hugo |
6cce58c
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Above Constance's desk were nude photographs of women in 1930s France, draped in provocative poses. She had put them there for Bob's viewing pleasure and in return he had placed African art of naked men above his desk for her.
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african-art
bob-dubois
constance-dubois
desks
kitty-logan
nakedness
france
pleasure
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Cecelia Ahern |
0ba66e3
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"New Rule: Conservatives have to stop rolling their eyes every time they hear the word "France." Like just calling something French is the ultimate argument winner. As if to say, "What can you say about a country that was too stupid to get on board with our wonderfully conceived and brilliantly executed war in Iraq?" And yet an American politician could not survive if he uttered the simple, true statement: "France has a better health-care system than we do, and we should steal it." Because here, simply dismissing an idea as French passes for an argument. John Kerry? Couldn't vote for him--he looked French. Yeah, as a opposed to the other guy, who just looked stupid. Last week, France had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote. Eighty-five percent turned out. You couldn't get eighty-five percent of Americans to get off the couch if there was an election between tits and bigger tits and they were giving out free samples. Maybe the high turnout has something to do with the fact that the French candidates are never asked where they stand on evolution, prayer in school, abortion, stem cell research, or gay marriage. And if the candidate knows about a character in a book other than Jesus, it's not a drawback. The electorate doesn't vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with. Nor do they care about private lives. In the current race, Madame Royal has four kids, but she never got married. And she's a socialist. In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him "liberal," he grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something. Royal's opponent married, but they live apart and lead separate lives. And the people are with that, for the same reason they're okay with nude beaches: because they're not a nation of six-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts. They have weird ideas about privacy. They think it should be private. In France, even mistresses have mistresses. To not have a lady on the side says to the voters, "I'm no good at multitasking." Like any country, France has its faults, like all that ridiculous accordion music--but their health care is the best in the industrialized world, as is their poverty rate. And they're completely independent of Mid-East oil. And they're the greenest country. And they're not fat. They have public intellectuals in France. We have Dr. Phil. They invented sex during the day, lingerie, and the tongue. Can't we admit we could learn from them?"
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politics
elections
france
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Bill Maher |
eb5b7a6
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I'd love to be a tabletop in Paris, where food is art and life combined in one, where people gather and talk for hours. I want lovers to meet over me. I'd want to be covered in drops of candle wax and breadcrumbs and rings from the bottom of wineglasses. I would never be lonely, and I would always serve a good purpose.
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|
young-adult
travel
travel-quotes
young-adult-series
young-adult-romance
travel-writing
young-adult-fiction
france
paris
parisians
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Maureen Johnson |
a0095cc
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It's a great city, Paris, a beautiful city--and--it was very good for me.
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city-of-light
cosmopolitan-cities
paris-attacks
france
paris
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James Baldwin |
3667344
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"Dear heart," he murmured, "do not look on me with those dear, scared eyes of yours. If there is aught that puzzles you in what I said, try and trust me a little longer. Remember, I must save the Dauphin at all costs; mine honor is bound with his safety. What happens to me after that matters but little, yet I wish to live for your dear sake." --
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trust
love
the-scarlet-pimprenel
honor
france
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Emmuska Orczy |
e5d459e
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Earlier maps had underestimated the distances to other continents and exaggerated the outlines of individual nations. Now global dimensions could be set, with authority, by the celestial spheres. Indeed, King Louis XIV of France, confronted with a revised map of his domain based on accurate longitude measurements, reportedly complained that he was losing more territory to his astronomers than to his enemies.
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humorous
king-louis-xiv
cartology
longitude
france
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Dava Sobel |
0b24799
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Dixon was not unconscious of this awed reverence which was given to her; nor did she dislike it; it flattered her as much as Louis the Fourteenth was flattered by his courtiers shading their eyes from the dazzling light of his presence.
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history
funny
louis-xiv
reverence
north-and-south
respect
pride
france
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Elizabeth Gaskell |
dccce27
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It is at a time like this, when crisis threatens the stomach, that the French display the most sympathetic side of their nature. Tell them stories of physical injury or financial ruin and they will either laugh or commiserate politely. But tell them you are facing gastronomic hardship, and they will move heaven and earth and even restaurant tables to help you.
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france
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Peter Mayle |
7fa5985
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C'etait un jour de fete. Mais l'haine se repete. Laissez pas la peur dominer le coeur, Si on veut que l'amour soit vainqueur
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amour-indépendance-liberté
ataque
bastille-pompeii
chute
coeur
despoir
fete
gloire
guerres
haine
horreur
lamour
notre-cœur
nouvelles
peuple
rime
terrorisme
vanite
ville
independance
peur
assassin
coexistence
amour
poesie
bastille
terrorists
vain
contemplation
joie-de-vivre
journalism
mort
revolution
conscience
crime
vengeance
trouble
terrible
france
terror
victor-hugo
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Ana Claudia Antunes |
04a1c09
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My part is not a heroic one, but I shall play my part.
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creon
part-to-play
ww2
france
|
Jean Anouilh |
510f610
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Cook with butter in the North, olive oil in the South.
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culture-identity
french-culture
olive-oil
culture
france
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Alain Bremond-Torrent |
64fe68c
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If you feel joy when you do something unselfish for him, and would just as soon do it in secret as openly, then that rings of the true metal
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joy
life
love
lisette-s-list
susan-vreeland
nun
painting
france
paris
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Susan Vreeland |
362d942
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De todas las borrascas que caen sobre el amor, ninguna lo enfria y lo desarraiga tanto como las peticiones de dinero.
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naturalismo
realismo
madame-bovary
france
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Gustave Flaubert |
e625021
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The walking tour guides one through the city's various landmarks, reciting bits of information the listener might find enlightening. I learned, for example, that in the late 1500s my little neighborhood square was a popular spot for burning people alive. Now lined with a row of small shops, the tradition continues, though in a figurative rather than literal sense.
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humor
david-sedaris
satire
funny-quotes
france
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David Sedaris |
bdc5172
|
With a quick thank-you, I focused my attention on the pastry he brought. The flavors melted in my mouth- warm chocolate and melted butter and the flaky sweet crust. This was what I loved about France. A keen appreciation for the simplicity and sweetness of life. The French seemed to savor their minutes along with their food.
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croissant
taste
sweet
france
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Melanie Dobson |