Before you, I engage myself to serve my country with the devotion and the exemplary that this post demands. I understand responsibilities of the job and, as such, I give a republican salute to Nicolas Sarkozy who has led France for 5 years and who deserves all of our respect.

— Francois Hollande

Each country has a soul, and France's soul is equality.

— Francois Hollande

France, after the month of May, will share trust with the current leadership of the United States which, on many subjects, has tended to take useful positions in our view.

— Francois Hollande

I am not deaf. I hear the anger. Furthermore, I see the dissatisfaction, and I have to go faster.

— Francois Hollande

I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics.

— Francois Hollande

I don't want euro bonds that serve to mutualize the entire debt of the countries in the eurozone. That can only work in the longer-term. I want euro bonds to be used to finance targeted investments in future-oriented growth projects. It isn't the same thing. Let's call them 'project bonds' instead of euro bonds.

— Francois Hollande

In an election, one needs both hope and audacity.

— Francois Hollande

I perfectly understood President Obama's attitude throughout the French presidential campaign. He had no reason to distance himself from Nicolas Sarkozy. It's the basic solidarity that leaders who worked together owe to each other.

— Francois Hollande

I want the French people to respect values that allow each individual to practice his or her faith, but in the frame of our common rules of secularism.

— Francois Hollande

I won't wait until the end of my term to say I made mistakes at the beginning. That's too late. I will try to adopt the proper behavior, if the French give me the chance, right from the start.

— Francois Hollande