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Apparently I offended many people in my Jon Winokur interview by publishing this Vichyous attack on the French:

Question: Is there any hope for the French?

Answer: The French will always be the French. That’s both the bad news and the good news. What the British entertainer Ivor Novello said over 50 years ago is still true: “There’s something Vichy about the French.”

To make amends, I asked Jon to compile his top ten quotes about France. He couldn’t.

  1. France is the most civilized country in the world and doesn’t care who knows it. John Gunther

  2. France is a nation devoted to the false hypothesis on which it then builds marvelously logical structures. Gore Vidal

  3. France has neither winter nor summer nor morals—apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. Mark Twain

  4. How can anyone govern a nation that has 240 different kinds of cheese? Charles de Gaulle

  5. Dogs smoke in france. Ozzy Osbourne

  6. We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be, detested in France. Duke of Wellington

  7. What I gained by being in France was learning to be better satisfied with my own country. Samuel Johnson

  8. Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in. No one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason. If you want people to like you, you have only to spend a little money. Ernest Hemingway

  9. France is the only country where the money falls apart, and you can’t tear the toilet paper. Billy Wilder

  10. They aren’t much at fighting wars anymore. Despite their reputation for fashion, their women have spindly legs. Their music is sappy. But they do know how to whip up a plate of grub. Mike Royko

  11. The French probably invented the very notion of discretion. It’s not that they feel that what you don’t know won’t hurt you; they feel that what you don’t know won’t hurt them. To the French lying is simply talking. Fran Lebowitz

  12. Every Frenchman wants to enjoy one or more privileges; that’s the way he shows his passion for equality. Charles de Gaulle

  13. If the French were really intelligent, they’d speak English. Wilfrid Sheed

  14. Germans with good food. Fran Lebowitz