Fabius Quotes & Sayings

The single currency should allow the European Union, and therefore France, to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China. — Laurent Fabius

This revision of the Constitution will not be perfect. But at least the Constitution will not be inflexible. It will be a step towards the Social Europe which we wish. — Laurent Fabius

For a long time many believed that there would be an automatic adjustment and counted on a rapid increase in the wages of the emerging nations, on our advances in technology and the costs of transport preventing disruption. But this reassuring analysis is out of date. — Laurent Fabius

There are 20 million unemployed and what does the Constitution offer us in the Europe of 25, 27 and soon to be 30: policies of unrestricted competition to the detriment of production, wages, research and innovation. — Laurent Fabius

We on the left who are pro-European and Internationalist wish to unite the peoples under a social model. — Laurent Fabius

I want to make an extremely strong appeal to those who abstained. Vote. It takes five minutes and then it's for five years. — Laurent Fabius

But Maastricht was not the end of history. It was a first step towards a Europe of growth, of employment, a social Europe. That was the vision of Francois Mitterrand. We are far from that now. — Laurent Fabius

There is no one who would not rather appear to know than to be taught. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

The demographic weight of countries such as China and India exercise a massive pressure on our wages and salaries. They have accomplished massive technological advances and the revolution in information technology has reduced the costs of transport. — Laurent Fabius

Hovering in the enemy's neighbourhood, cutting off stragglers and foraging parties, preventing them from gaining any permanent base, Fabius remained an elusive shadow on the horizon, dimming the glamour of Hannibal's triumphal progress. Thus Fabius, by his immunity from defeat, thwarted the effect of Hannibal's previous victories upon the minds of Rome's Italian allies and checked them from changing sides. This guerrilla type of campaign also revived the spirit of the Roman troops while depressing the Carthaginians who, having ventured so far from home, were the more conscious of the necessity of gaining an early decision. — B.H. Liddell Hart

The EU should help the emergence of "organized multipolarity" in the currently non-polar world. — Laurent Fabius

We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

I am a partisan and artisan of Europe. But I draw the lessons of my experience in government. — Laurent Fabius

Reading is the least laborious of all the tasks that fall to the student's lot. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

This assumes an upward revision of the European Budget, which is precisely what Jacques Chirac refuses to do. On the contrary, he has demanded a reduction. — Laurent Fabius

Do nothing and hope the enemy fades away. — Fabius Maximus

A Woman who is generous with her money is to be praised; not so, if she is generous with her person — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity. We need to build on this, and make the euro more than a currency and Europe more than a territory ... In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union. Stronger growth and Euorpean integration are related issues. In both areas we will take concrete steps forward. — Laurent Fabius

One man restored our fortunes by delay. [By skilfully avoiding an engagement, Fabius exhausted the resources of the enemy.] — Quintus Ennius

If the US economic landing is soft there will be no consequences (for Europe). — Laurent Fabius

The strategy of Fabius was not merely an evasion of battle to gain time, but calculated for its effect on the morale of the enemy-and, still more, for its effect on their potential allies. It was thus primarily a matter of war-policy, or grand strategy. Fabius recognized Hannibal's military superiority too well to risk a military decision. While seeking to avoid this, he aimed by military pin-pricks to wear down the invaders' endurance and, coincidentally, prevent their strength being recruited from the Italian cities or their Carthaginian base. The key condition of the strategy by which this grand strategy was carried out was that the Roman army should keep always to the hills, so as to nullify Hannibal's decisive superiority in cavalry. Thus this phase became a duel between the Hannibalic and the Fabian forms of the indirect approach. — B.H. Liddell Hart

A trite but effective tactic against the fear of death: think of the list of people who had to be pried away from life. What did they gain by dying old? In the end, they all sleep six feet under - Caedicianus, Fabius, Julian, Lepidus, and all the rest. They buried their contemporaries, and were buried in turn. Our lifetime is so brief. And to live it out in these circumstances, among these people, in this body? Nothing to get excited about. Consider the abyss of time past, the infinite future. Three days of life or three generations: what's the difference? — Marcus Aurelius

Without sounding too grandiose, the survival of the planet itself is at stake, you have rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans, immigration sparked by climate change, droughts that are much more severe. — Laurent Fabius

In writing are the roots, in writing are the foundations of eloquence; by writing resources are stored up, as it were, in a sacred repository, when they may be drawn forth for sudden emergencies, or as circumstances require. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

Shopkeepers are not bankers. — Laurent Fabius

Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

At the same time the Constitution sets in stone the Stability Pact and risks preventing member States from implementing a policy of growth. So we are not able to do things at the European or the national level. — Laurent Fabius

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

To be turned from one's course by men's opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold an office. — Fabius Maximus

One general, Fabius Maximus was nicknamed Cunctator, "the Procrastinator." He drove Hannibal, who had an obvious military superiority, crazy by avoiding and delaying engagement. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

France on its own cannot impose its point of view. But neither should it give up on its demands. With a clear vote for change France will be in a strong position. — Laurent Fabius

A liar should have a good memory. — Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

The U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol endangers the entire process. — Laurent Fabius