Flirting with French Quotes

“I’m lecturing my class last week. In the English language, I tell them, a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn’t a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative. And I hear a voice from the back of the room: ‘Yeah, right.’ ”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

“Thankfully, improbably, we are aboard, sighing, then giggling with relief, until our fun is spoiled by le conducteur. “Billets? ” he requests. In the mad dash to the train, we’ve had to neglect one slight detail: tickets.”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

“French, for me, is not just an accomplishment. It’s a need. —ALICE KAPLAN, French Lessons, 1994”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

“On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. (We see well only with the heart.) —ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, Le petit prince, 1943”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

“a Frenchman might say after sipping a smooth red wine: C’est le petit Jésus en culotte de velours! It’s the baby Jesus in velvet shorts! What!? Relax, it’s just the French way of saying “It’s the tops!” (a Roaring Twenties flapper might’ve said, “It’s the cat’s pajamas!”) or it goes down easy, like God in velvet shorts—or underpants, depending on who’s translating. You get the idea, although getting the idea doesn’t make it any less curious. My secret fantasy is to see an American presidential candidate slip up and use that expression on the stump: “Winning Connecticut would be the baby Jesus in velvet shorts!” Not only would his career be over, but I swear, I’d probably make a map of France, right then and there. French and the Middle-Aged Mind Middle age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, Why not?”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart

“Studying French has been like drinking from a mental fountain of youth!”
― William Alexander, Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart