Oh là là! Merveilleux! Et ainsi de suite.
We here at HuffPost UK Comedy are celebrating Bastille Day by having the day off (well, it is a Sunday), drinking beaucoup de vin and of course, rounding up funny quotes. It’s a centuries-old French tradition. Possibly.
So without further ado, here are 15 lovely witticisms about our friends across La Manche. Joyeux le quatorze juillet, tout le monde!
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Jacques Cousteau
Marine conservationist, explorer, Steve Zissou template.
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Edith Piaf
The singing sparrow.
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Simone de Beauvoir
Writer, philosopher, feminist pioneer.
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Jacques Derrida
The father of deconstruction.
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François Truffaut
New Wave filmmaker, actor and a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind” target=”_blank”alien-botherer/a.
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Jeanne Moreau
Actress, director, star of ‘Jules Et Jim’.
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Jean Reno
Hollywood’s favourite Frenchman.
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Philippe Starck
The ultimate designer emmoderne/em.
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Brigitte Bardot
Actress, model, animal-lover.
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Jean-Luc Godard
New Wave filmmaker, epic glasses-wearer.
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Jean-Michel Jarre
Composer, electronic instrumentalist, emson et lumière/em live show specialist.
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Juliette Binoche
Actress, model, the French star of ‘The English Patient’.
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Eric Cantona
Footballer, actor, philosopher.
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MIchel Roux, Jr
Anglo-French masterchef.
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Colette
Scandalous, brilliant novelist.
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Alain Delon
The male Brigitte Bardot.
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Isabelle Adjani
Record-holder for the most César awards for Best Actress.
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Jean Rochefort
Prolific actor, fine moustache-wearer.
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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Painter, illustrator, short man.
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Marcel Proust
Novelist, essayist and a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/22/conservative-party-venn-diagram_n_3319862.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-comedy” target=”_blank”the Tories’ worst nightmare/a.
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Lucie Aubrac
Teacher, French Resistance member, human rights campaigner.
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Louis Malle
Transatlantic director, screenwriter and producer.
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Yves Saint Laurent
Fashion designer and emprêt-à-porter/em pioneer.
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Yves Montand
Actor, singer, quintessential Frenchman.
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Henri Cartier-Bresson
The father of modern photojournalism.
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Berthe Morisot
Impressionist painter who wasn’t a man.
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Joséphine de La Baume
Actress, model, half of Singtank.
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Air
Electronic pop duo and darlings of the Nineties.
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Marguerite Duras
Writer, filmmaker, author of ‘L’Amant’.
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Serge Gainsbourg
Singer-songwriter, cigarette-smoker, father of…
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Charlotte Gainsbourg
Anglo-French actress and singer.
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Johnny Halliday
The French Tom Jones.
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Daft Punk
Electronic pop duo and darlings of the Noughties.
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Romain Duris
Actor, Heartbreaker, Mr Populaire. a href=”http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0244151/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1″ target=”_blank”And we mean those things literally./a
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Julie Delpy
Actress, director, Ethan Hawke’s dream woman.
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George Sand
Novelist also known as Amantine Lucile Dupin.
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Jean Cocteau
Poet, novelist, filmmaker, inspiration for the Cocteau Twins’ name.
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Luc Besson
Director, screenwriter, emcinéma du look/em filmmaker.
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Vanessa Paradis
Actress, model, singer of emJoe Le Taxi/em.
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Josephine Baker
American-born, French-naturalised dancer, singer, actress, muse, Civil Rights activist and helper of the French Resistance.
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Claude Debussy
Composer, musical pioneer.
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Catherine Deneuve
Actress, timeless beauty, star of more than 100 films.
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Jean-Paul Gaultier
Fashion designer, Madonna bustier-creator.
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Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialist philosopher and Nobel Prize refuser.
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Anaïs Nin
Writer, bohemian, erotic novelist.
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Jean-Paul Belmondo
New Wave film star.
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Mathieu Kassovitz
Director, actor, screenwriter, love interest to…
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Audrey Tatou
‘Amélie’ star turned darling of every living cinema-goer.
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Coco Chanel
Fashion designer, style innovator and creator of the brand Chanel.
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Albert Camus
Writer, philosopher, purveyor of existential angst.
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Vincent Cassel
Actor, Hollywood star, ruthless dance teacher (in ‘Black Swan’, at least).