Salut à tous,
This week we are going to continue on our path to motivation, and look at 10 French inspiring, motivational quotes said by famous French people.
You know, usually you have your Einstein and Confucius,.. Well this time the author are going to be French.
So what we are going to learn is :
- Motivational and inspirational vocabulary
- A bit of culture (famous French people)
- Pronunciation (yay!!)
- And we’re going to take a look at different sentences structures.
What I want you to do with all of that, is write a sentence using one of the sentence structures and including maybe a new word of vocabulary from the quotes.
AND, if you’re brave enough 
, record yourself on Vocaroo or post a YouTube video with you saying the quotes.
, record yourself on Vocaroo or post a YouTube video with you saying the quotes.Yes, that is a CHALLENGE !!
C’est parti
"Il ne faut pas attendre d’être parfait pour commencer quelque chose de bien." - l'Abbé Pierre
L’Abbé Pierre was a French religious. Very famous for being the founder of Emmaüs, an association combatting poverty and homelessness.
I think this quote is pretty self explanatory. But, in our context, it’s a good reminder than you shouldn’t wait to know your grammar perfectly to start speaking.
Let’s extract the motivational vocabulary.
- Parfait – perfect
- Être parfait – to be perfect
- Quelque chose de bien – something good
- Attendre – to wait
There’s a lot going on structurally in this quote but, here’s what kind of sentences you could form with the same structure :
- Il ne faut pas…. (Do not)
- Il faut.. pour… (You need… to/for…)
Remember to keep your extra verbs in the infinitive form.
- Il ne faut pas fumer (Do not smoke).
- Il faut attendre pour manger le gâteau (You need to wait to eat the cake).
"Impose ta chance, serre ton bonheur et va vers ton risque" - René Char
René Char was a French poet. He also was part of the Résistance during the Second World War (crucial part of modern French history).
Another great advice to apply to your French learning. You need to seek opportunities, because they will not magically find you. Want to speak French with a native? Actively look for one. And don’t give up.
Oh look at that. Lots of new vocabulary!
- La chance – luck
- La bonheur – happiness
- Le risque – risk
Grammatically, the sentence might not be of interest for you, unless you want to be able to use the Impératif (the tense to give orders).
- Impose-toi ! (impose yourself)
- Vas-y ! (Go ahead)
"Tu ne seras jamais heureux si tu cherches continuellement de quoi est fait le bonheur" - Albert Camus
Ah Albert Camus, we talked a tiny bit about him in this article about books. But to summarise, he was a writer of all sort of things, notably of L’Étranger. Also un résistant.
He gave us plenty of inspirational quotes, but here’s the one I selected.
This might be harder to put into practice, and I’m going to stretch it out a tad to make a point (sorry). But, I see many learner fall into this. Asking why is an important part of your learning journey, but comes a point, you have to roll with it.
In short, stop asking and start doing 😉
BREF, vocabulary:
- Heureux – happy
- Le bonheur – happiness
Note the difference between heureux (happy) and bonheur (happiness).
What’s interesting with this quote is the use of ‘si’:
- Tu ne seras jamais grand si tu ne manges pas de soupe. (You’ll never be tall if you don’t eat your soup)
- Vous êtes fou si vous pensez ça. (You are crazy if you think that).
This is a complex sentence, which we saw how to form in this article. Remember? First proposition, a conjunction, plus a second proposition.
"J’ai décidé d’être heureux parce que c’est bon pour la santé" - Voltaire
Oh, another big big name. Voltaire. XVIII century, the century of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was a philosopher, and influenced the ideas of the French Revolution. Important character then.
I like this quote because it’s about the power of the mind.
Whatever you decide, your brain will roll with it. Beliefs are powerful stuff. And you can apply this to your French learning by deciding that you are going to succeed. Commitment 🙂
Gimme the voca:
- Heureux (again) – happy
- La santé – health
Grammatically, this is another complexe sentence, with a different conjunction:
- J’ai soif parce qu’il faut chaud. (I’m thirsty because it’s hot)
- Il est en retard parce que sa voiture est tombé en panne. (He’s late because his car broke down).
But there’s also two other interesting piece of structures. J’ai décidé de (+ infinitif) :
- J’ai décidé de passer mon permis. (I decided to take the driving test).
- Il a décidé de ranger sa chambre. (He decided to tidy his room)
And, C’est bon pour:
- C’est bon pour le moral (It’s good for the mood)
- C’est bon pour moi (It’s good for me)
"Les portes de l’avenir sont ouvertes à ceux qui savent les pousser" - Coluche
Coluche! He was a very popular comedian in the 70’s and the 80’s. Just like l’Abbé Pierre (although completely different in any other ways), he is a the founder of Les Restos du Coeur, the most important food aid association in France.
If there is one thing I insist on Just French It, it’s that you know your goals and how to get there.
And this quote is an echo of that. If you want to succeed at anything, you have to have at least a broad idea of how to get there. If not, you’re blind.
Vocabulary? Where?
- L’avenir – (lit. À venir – to come) – the future
We do also use le futur, but l’avenir is maybe a bit more poetic. They are completely interchangeable though.
What can you get grammatically out of this sentence? Maybe the use of ‘ceux qui’
- Moi, je file un rencard à ceux qui n’ont plus rien (extract of the Resto du Coeur’s song) – I’m giving a date to all that don’t have anything left.
- Dédicace à tout ceux qui viennent du 95 (French gangstastyle) – This goes out to all from the 95 (Paris Region).
"J’accepte la grande aventure d’être moi" - Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir was philosopher. She’s regarded as one of the most influential French feminist figures. A great lady.
Ahah I assure you I can link this to your French learning 😉
One of the many things I keep repeating is that learning should be adapted to your situation. Personalisation is key when it comes to learning language, would it be personalisation of your goal or personalisation of your learning method. So, the sooner you accept the way you learn, the better.
Two vocabulary word to remember :
- Accepter – to accept
- L’aventure – the adventure
What about the sentence structure? The combinaisons ‘accepter+ de’.
- J’accepte de faire ça pour toi. (I accept to do that for you)
- Il a accepté de changer l’heure du rendez-vous. (He accept to change the time of the meeting).
"Nous sommes nos choix" - Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir… One of the most influential philosophical couple of the XXth, if not THE most.
Yes, it does echos Simone’s quote. But it’s slightly different at the same time.
What you do determine your results. Which means, not only do you have to personalise your learning, you also have to show up and do the work 😉
Only one word of vocabulary in this sentence : les choix – the choices.
And it is a simple sentence that follow the regular pattern of French sentence structure: subject, verbe, complément.
Eassyyy
"Chaque difficulté rencontrée doit être l’occasion d’un nouveau progrès" - Pierre de Coubertin
So far, every French person should know the authors of the quote we’ve seen. This one might be different. Pierre de Coubertin was an educationalist. Most importantly though, he’s known for being the father of the modern Olympic Games.
But in short, he was a man of education. A passionate and motivating man then. Which is why this particular quote represent him so well.
And that’s why it should resonate with you. Embrace your mistakes as an opportunity to learn. I know, easier said than done, but hey at least try.
A couple of word to remember from this quote:
- Une difficulté – a difficulty
- L’occasion – the opportunity
- Le progrès – progress
Here we have a nice example of the verbe devoir in action:
- Je dois partir. (I need to go)
- Il doit être deux heures. (It must be 2 o’clock)
And also, a nice example of an auxiliary free past participle. Which is a barbaric way to say a verb than is not conjugated but used to add details on something without using either être or avoir.
- Il faut que je m’occupe de ma chemise tâchée. (I need to deal with my stained shirt)
- Mets les fleurs fanées à la poubelle. (Put the dead flowers in the bin)
"Le bonheur est parfois caché dans l’inconnu" - Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo… We talked about him briefly in my article on the best books to learn French.
One of the most important French writers with his novels especially (Notre Dame de Paris and Les Misérables).
How is that related to your learning? It’s not.
Not really. Just sometimes it’s important to remember than there is always something you don’t know. Keep looking for it.
Vocabulaire? Sure.
- Bonheur – happiness (you’ll know this one by the end of the article)
- L’inconnu – the unknown
Un inconnu (une inconnue) can also mean, depending on the context, someone you don’t know.
Not a really complicated sentence, but an interesting fact about parfois:
- Parfois, je vais me coucher tôt. (Sometimes, I’m going to bed early)
- Je vais me coucher tôt parfois.
- Je vais parfois me coucher tôt.
It can be placed about anywhere in a sentence. But I’d recommend you stick with it being at the beginning, it sounds more natural, especially for modern spoken French.
"La meilleure façon de réaliser ses rêves est de se réveiller" - Paul Valéry
Another writer, another great mind, Paul Valéry. He might be more well known as a poet though.
It’s another matter of ‘Stop thinking and do’. Action!
I selected this quote for one particular reason though:
- Réaliser ses rêves – to achieve one’s dreams
- Réaliser – to achieve / to realise
Which I believe is what you want right?
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2 thoughts on “10 French motivational quotes 🌈 to get inspired”
Bonjour! Merci beaucoup pour cette article.
Bonjour Helen, merci à toi pour le commentaire. Et pas de quoi 😉
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