Here's Auguste Rodin's plaster cast of Georges Clemenceau, French politician and prime minister from 1906-09 and 1917-20. Nicknamed "le Tigre" because of his aggressive debating technique, Clemenceau was also known for his sometimes derisive wit. "Pour mes obsèques, je ne veux que le strict nécessaire, c'est-à-dire moi." For my funeral services, I want only what is strictly necessary, that is to say myself.
This was the public figure who also said, "On ne ment jamais tant qu'avant les élections, pendant la guerre et après la chasse." One never lies so much as before elections, during war and after hunting. And lest anyone forget, he summarized that "la France est un pays extrêmement fertile: on y plante des fonctionnaires et il y pousse des impôts." France is an extremely fertile country: it plants civil servants and grows taxes.
©2012 P.B. Lecron
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