# French people you greatly admire **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709 "2003-03-16T03:00:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/1 "2003-03-16T03:00:01Z")
In the spirit of “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, I think the time is right for a thread where we name all the French people we truly admire, and why. They can be living or dead, famous or not. I’ll start: Jaques Cousteau: Few human beings have done as much to educate and inform the rest of us about the amazing and wonderful creatures we share our planet with. Marquis de Lafayette: Is that the right name? The guy who helped out the US during the American Revolution. Dom Perignon: Now here was a guy who had his priorities straight. I know there are many others, I’m leaving a few easy ones for the rest of you… ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/2 "2003-03-16T03:15:58Z")
**Gustave Eiffel** , 1832-1923 Usually remembered for the Tower in Paris, Eiffel was a brilliant engineer and businessman, specializing in cast iron and steel construction. The Eiffel Company built bridges, viaducts, dams, factories, wharves, military camps, workshops, etc. world-wide. He aslo dabbled in scientific experiments at the end of his career. One of the coolest things the Eiffel company built were portable bridges of cast iron. These were turned out in mass production and assembled throughout the world. He’s one of my engineering idols! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/3 "2003-03-16T03:20:58Z")
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! **Eiffel** also designed the _skeleton_ which holds up the Statue of Liberty. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/4 "2003-03-16T03:30:53Z")
I’ll second Cousteau and add Genevieve Bujold (schwing :D) ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/5 "2003-03-16T03:46:55Z")
My favorite French woman is **Colette** – Gabrielle Sidonie Colette (1873-1954). She wrote about independent women, passionate love, nature, peace, the mother-daughter bond. Even the English translations of her words reveal her exquisite talent for insight and description. (She also had her own cosmetics business and was a music hall performer. She became notorious when she dared to bare her breast on stage. And she caused a riot at the Moulin Rouge when she mimed the sex act.) During World War I she turned her estate into a hospital for the wounded. In the 1930s Colette was made a member of the Belgian Royal Academy and was the first woman ever to be admitted to Concourt Academy. She became a grand officer of the Legion of Honour in 1953. Colorful and brazen, she still had an eye for delicate beauty and discovered a relatively unknown woman – Audrey Hepburn – whom she chose to star on Broadway in her most well known work, _Gigi_, which was written when she was 72. Vive Colette! Vive la France! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/6 "2003-03-16T04:17:32Z")
_Pepe Le Pew_. A true master of the romantic arts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/7 "2003-03-16T05:20:29Z")
Napoleon, but he was corsican. He conquered Italy by age 26, ran France by age 31, and controlled most of western europe by age 40. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/8 "2003-03-16T06:02:36Z")
Inspector Clouseau. Very funny! And let’s not forget the Coneheads, Beldar and Prymaat! Outstanding representatives of the great state of France! Saaaaaaaallllluuuttte!! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/9 "2003-03-16T06:25:46Z")
Michel de Montaigne (few political philosophers have been as brilliant, few have been as level-headed, and NONE has been as brilliant AND as level-headed). Claude Monet Blaise Pascal Teilhard de Chardin Georges Simenon Claude Debussy ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/10 "2003-03-16T06:39:16Z")
Oh man, the French cranked out some of the greatest mathematicians ever: Pascal, Fermat, Fourier, Laplace, Lagrange, Descartes, Legendre…and I’m sure I’ve missed many others. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/11 "2003-03-16T11:10:23Z")
I do like the Frenchmen (don’t know their names) in the castle in the Holy Grail when they threaten to taunt the English pigs dogs a second time. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/12 "2003-03-16T11:44:04Z")
Just off the top of my head, two of my favorite authors–Alexander Dumas (pere) and Albert Camus. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/13 "2003-03-16T11:52:16Z")
Off the top of my head… Henri Matisse. Michel Houllebec. Raymond Blanc. Charles De Gaulle. Jean Michel Jarre (really!). Catherine Deneuve. Jean Reno. Beatrice Dalle. Gérard Depardieu. Marguerite Duras. Albert Camus. Daniel Auteuil. Luc Besson. Emmanuelle Béart. Laetitia Casta (I _greatly_ admire her). ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/14 "2003-03-16T12:54:45Z")
Napolean Bonaparte, Charlemagne, Voltaire, Rosseau But the mathematicians, as mentioned, stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/15 "2003-03-16T13:05:59Z")
You know, I was considering including in the OP that the thread was for real people only, not fictional characters. Whatever, people. One of the easy ones who I thought someone else would have named by now: **Louis Pasteur**. The man saved countless lives. ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/16 "2003-03-16T13:12:40Z")
Emile Zola - J’accuse! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/17 "2003-03-16T13:14:54Z")
Well, if you’re going to be a spoilsport and insist on real people, I guess I can’t nominate **Asterix** and **Obelix** … Fortunately, I _can_ still nominate **René Goscinny** and **Albert Uderzo**. So I will. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/18 "2003-03-16T14:37:30Z")
Eleanor of Aquitaine ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/19 "2003-03-16T14:46:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earthling \* > \*\*Oh man, the French cranked out some of the greatest mathematicians ever: Pascal, Fermat, Fourier, Laplace, Lagrange, Descartes, Legendre…and I’m sure I’ve missed many others. \*\* All o’ those chaps. Plus: Louise Labé (poet), Michel de Montaigne (essayist), Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (scientist), Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (diplomat), Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (food writer), Louis Pasteur (scientist), Paul Cézanne (painter), Henri Matisse (painter), Jacques Lacan (psychoanalyst), Catherine Deneuve (actress, beauty), Zinedine Zidane (footballer) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709/20 "2003-03-16T17:01:40Z")
Was anybody else wondering how long this thread would go until le Petomaine was mentioned? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-people-you-greatly-admire/161709.md?page=2)