These Quebec quotes will inspire you. Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.
A collection of motivating, happy, and encouraging Quebec quotes, Quebec sayings, and Quebec proverbs.
Best Quebec Quotes
- “Well, I am trying to put Quebec in its place – and the place of Quebec is in Canada, nowhere else.” ~ Pierre Trudeau
- “Recognizing Quebec as being different, recognizing our history, recognizing our identity, has never meant a weakening of Quebec and has never been a threat to national unity.” ~ Jean Charest
- “Long live free Quebec!” ~ Charles de Gaulle
- “Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Quebec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.” ~ Tommy Douglas
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“Quebec does not have Opinions, but only sentiments.” ~ Wilfrid Laurier
- “Quebec City is the most European of any city in North America, they speak French all the time. There is a part of town called Old Quebec which is really like being in France. The architecture is just gorgeous, food, shopping. I’d say Quebec city is the most beautiful city in North America I’ve seen.” ~ Sebastian Bach
- “Quebec’s distinct character makes Canada an even better country, and vice versa: being in Canada makes Quebec a better place too.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “In the province of Quebec where I come from, we speak French and the only cosmopolitan city is Montreal. Every time we tackle the subject of immigration and racial tension, it’s an issue that concerns Montreal. Also, in Quebec, we have this added issue that we want people to speak French, because French is always on the verge of disappearing to some extent. I work, play and do everything in French.” ~ Philippe Falardeau
- “I’ll be a Quebecker-Canadian. I’m from Quebec, and every time I go to a country, I say that. It’s my roots, my origins, and it’s the most important thing to me.” ~ Celine Dion
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“My quality of life here in Quebec City is extraordinary.” ~ Patrick Roy
- “My great hope would be that Quebec would realize itself fully as a distinct part of Canada, and stay Canadian, bringing to Canada a part of its richness.” ~ Gabrielle Roy
- “In Quebec City, many Muslims have said that they hide their faith because they know that if they don’t, if they show that they are Muslims, practicing Muslims, they won’t be accepted in Quebec society.” ~ Andre Pratte
- “Canada’s eminent position today is a tribute to the patience, tolerance, and strength of character of her people, of both French and British strains. For Canada is enriched by the heritage of France as well as of Britain, and Quebec has imparted the vitality and spirit of France itself to Canada. Canada’s notable achievement of national unity and progress through accommodation, moderation and forbearance can be studied with profit by her sister nations.” ~ Harry S. Truman
- “One afternoon late in October of the year 1697, Euclide Auclair, the philosopher apothecary of Quebec, stood on the top of Cap Diamant gazing down the broad, empty river far beneath him.” ~ Willa Cather
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“Quebec from the boat looked like the ramparts where Hamlet’s ghost might have walked.” ~ Charlie Chaplin
- “Our problem in Quebec is our summer is so short that we can’t wear bathing suits, whatever, what kind of bathing suit. So I mean, we have this debate with political parties involved whether we should forbid the burkini yes or no, and this was in the media, you know, front page for days and days and days. This is wildly exaggerated. And people that don’t live for instance in Montreal, where they don’t have a diverse population, they think this is a real problem.” ~ Andre Pratte
- “As to whether Marcos is gay: Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10 pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains.” ~ Subcomandante Marcos
- “There was a young man of Quebec
Who was frozen in snow to his neck,
When asked, ‘Are you Friz?’
He replied, ‘Yes I is,
But we don’t call this cold in Quebec.'” ~ Rudyard Kipling - “I was born in Quebec City, I’ve lived there many years before moving to Montreal and then Ottawa. And I mean, Quebec City is a very, you know, closed city if I may say. So it’s not easy to be accepted living in Quebec City. So if you’re from a different faith, you may be a bit timid in showing your faith. So I mean, you’re already from a different country, you’re an immigrant and hearing what you hear about Islam, you might not wish to be identified as a Muslim, and you may be very discreet into your faith and going to the mosque.” ~ Andre Pratte
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“Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec! Long live Free Quebec!” ~ Charles de Gaulle
- “Canadians are friends and Quebecers are my family. What France knows deep down is that within this great Canadian people, there is a Quebec nation. I do not see how proving my family, brotherly love for Quebec should be strengthened by defying Canada.” ~ Nicolas Sarkozy
- “I’m writing a political comedy that takes place in Canada in Quebec. It’s funny. Saying political comedy is a little redundant but it’s a first. I’ve never done any comedy per se.” ~ Philippe Falardeau
- “Attempting to build a language wall around Quebec is precisely the wrong policy to follow. It will keep out of Quebec exactly what we need to attract by way of talent and capital; it will drive our best – francophones as well as allophones and anglophones, with their talents and capital – to leave Quebec.” ~ Dick Pound
- “I’d really love to go for a fourth trip into space with maybe Mr. Duceppe and Mr. Boisclair, and I am convinced, I am convinced that after such a trip, Quebec sovereignty will no longer be an issue. Space travel affects us that much.” ~ Marc Garneau
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“I have no family. My only responsibility is the welfare of Quebec. I belong to the province.” ~ Maurice Duplessis
- “I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money…. In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
- “Men propound mathematical theorems in besieged cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on the scaffold, discuss a new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our nature.” ~ C. S. Lewis
- “I often repeat three numbers: 20-23-26. Quebec generates only 20 percent of Canada’s wealth; it represents 23 percent of the population, but it does 26 percent of government spending in Canada. That’s incompatible with good financial health over the long term.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “I always remind Quebecers: hey, wait a minute – federalism works. If you look at the fiscal arrangements, the economic arrangements, the way the country works, if you compare it to other countries in the world, it’s quite advantageous for Quebec.” ~ Philippe Couillard
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“We were always expected to see Quebec’s side of things, but there was damned little reciprocity.” ~ Judy LaMarsh
- “All of us in Quebec – and I mean all of us – have allowed language to become a preoccupation that works to the disadvantage of all of us – and I mean all of us.” ~ Dick Pound
- “There is Ontario patriotism, Quebec patriotism, or Western patriotism; each based on the hope that it may swallow up the others, but there is no Canadian patriotism, and we can have no Canadian nation when we have no Canadian patriotism.” ~ Henri Bourassa
- “Something I don’t want to do, ever, is to put Quebec in a position of weakness.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “If, as is believed by many Canadians, Canada can not exist without Quebec, then it simply does not deserve to exist.” ~ Pierre Bourgault
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“I want my own country, not against Canada but for Quebec.” ~ Gilles Duceppe
- “Everything we did was done in form and with propriety, and the result of our proceedings is the document [the Quebec Resolutions] that has been submitted to the imperial government as well as to this house and which we speak of here as a treaty. And that there may be no doubt about our position in regard to that document we say, question it you may, reject it you may, or accept it you may, but alter it you may not.” ~ Thomas D’Arcy McGee
- “I’d rather be referred to as a precocious young Quebec talent, than not be referred to at all.” ~ Xavier Dolan
- “I spent much of my childhood in northern Quebec, and often there was no radio, no television – there wasn’t a lot to entertain us. When it rained, I stayed inside reading, writing, drawing.” ~ Margaret Atwood
- “Aline and I have traveled a very long, very hard road together, from our working-class homes in rural Quebec to the palaces of London, Paris, Moscow, and Beijing. Politics was the route, public service the reward.” ~ Jean Chretien
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“Gentlemen, I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec tomorrow.” ~ James Wolfe
- “You ever want to negotiate a hostage situation in Quebec, I’m your man. Send me in for a little parley and the francophone miscreants will flee, hands over bleeding ears.” ~ Will Ferguson
- “In the world outside this glass room, songbirds are feeding and resting in the trees. Some will take off tonight and not land until they reach Venezuela. Sandpipers, plovers, and broad-winged hawks have already left for Patagonia and Panama. Bats are headed for caves in Kentucky and Tennessee. Out in the Atlantic, humpback whales pass by on their way to the Caribbean. Even now, Canada geese are honking toward us from Quebec. It is a good day for the beginnings of journeys. Every time I look at you, I think, Now I cannot die.” ~ Sandra Steingraber
- “From that moment on, there will be an irreversible process to separate Quebec from Canada.” ~ Jean Charest
- “To suggest that Quebecers willingly give up the chance to exercise fully their influence within the federal government would be to betray the historical role Quebec has always played in Confederation, and to undermine the legitimacy of their pride and ambitions.” ~ Kim Campbell
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“Progressive Conservative candidates from Quebec want to exert real power in Ottawa, not simply be content with playing a secondary role.” ~ Kim Campbell
- “If it’s cross-country ski season, I’ll be out doing that, or snowshoeing up in Quebec. In my California home, I go to the local Y and I like doing yoga. It’s been hugely beneficial to me in injury avoidance.” ~ Neil Peart
- “I was born in the Ottawa General Hospital right after the Gray Cup Football Game in 1939. Six months later, I was backpacked into the Quebec bush. I grew up in and out of the bush, in and out of Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto.” ~ Margaret Atwood
- “At one point Trudeau mentioned to me that the National Gallery wanted to buy a masterpiece by the great Italian painter Lotto, and it needed a million dollars from the Treasury Board. “Is that Lotto-Quebec or Lotto-Canada?” I joked, but I got the message, and the National Gallery got the painting.” ~ Jean Chretien
- “The two of us had come a long way together from our humble beginnings and the basement apartment that had been our first home as newlyweds in 1957 when I was still a law student at Laval University in Quebec City.” ~ Jean Chretien
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“We don’t want two-tier health care in Canada – one tier for Quebec and another tier for the rest of the country.” ~ Gordon Campbell
- “In Quebec, in spite of police violence and threats, thousands of students demonstrated for months against a former right-wing government that wanted to raise tuition and cut social protections. These demonstrations are continuing in a variety of countries throughout the globe and embrace an investment in a new understanding of the commons as a shared space of knowledge, debate, exchange and participation.” ~ Henry Giroux
- “Some of the large [municipalities] in Quebec can contain within them most of the answers to their own practical problems. And so lots of different possibilities for doing things in a practical and different way become available.” ~ Jane Jacobs
- “When the Canadian confederation took place in 1867, a lot of people in Quebec said, ‘Could we have a referendum?’ They said, ‘Oh, no. In the British tradition, the Parliament can do anything, excluding changing a man into a woman, and, therefore, no referendum’ – and that was that.” ~ Jacques Parizeau
- “Look at what has occurred in history. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was not surprising, but it was unexpected. Who predicted the Arab Spring? Nobody expected it, but all the ingredients were there. I think all the ingredients are also there for Quebec to become a country. But when? That’s another question.” ~ Gilles Duceppe
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“In Quebec, we can no longer increase taxes if we want to stay competitive.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “Let’s see in those indictments you can’t level at Sweden, they never tried to ban the constitution or undermine the settlement that they wanted. Well, you can’t say that of Canada. Any indication of revolt on the part of Quebec was either bought off, with a good deal of corruption.” ~ Jane Jacobs
- “There were lots of programs over the course of the two referendums and the general tenor of them was that if Quebec were to separate, then Canada would disintegrate.” ~ Jane Jacobs
- “Unfortunately [René] Lévesque had so little self-confidence in Quebec and in the people themselves, that he fell for that and, yes, he’d say, you know, it might be ruinous for us economically.” ~ Jane Jacobs
- “In Quebec, our goal isn’t to reduce daycare service – a program the entire world envies – but to make it viable so tomorrow’s families can keep benefiting from it.” ~ Philippe Couillard
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“We have to redesign the finances of the Quebec state to preserve what counts: education, health, and families.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “I belong to a generation that had so many choices available. In 1970, when [former premier Robert] Bourassa launched the James Bay development project, nobody in Quebec asked whether we had the means to do it. Today could we launch another James Bay? Imagine the debates we’d have? We were a young, rich society with almost no debt. The generation that comes after us, and which will lead Quebec, must also have choices. And for that, they’ll need financial maneuvering room.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “[If Quebec became sovereign] there would be one level of government that would be missing, one less level of government. The municipality would become the second level.” ~ Jane Jacobs
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“Quebec’s financial situation is serious. In terms of intensity, we’re close to matching 1982 and 1997. We won’t do the same things this time, but the problems we face today are about as pressing.” ~ Philippe Couillard
- “All my career I’ve gone to teams on the decline. I went to Quebec when they were losing the Stastny brothers. I went to Edmonton after they lost Gretzky and Messier. I went to Anaheim when it was an expansion team. I came to Montreal after they’d won the Cup and were headed down. I was beginning to think it was me.” ~ Ron Tugnutt
- “I’m as proud and assertive in my Quebec identity as any Quebecer. I believe it’s to Quebec’s advantage to be part of the Canadian federation. But I will be extremely strong and forceful in defending Quebec’s interests within Canada.” ~ Philippe Couillard
