Belgium

Belgium is a country in western Europe.

Belgians

• C'est moi qui a sauvé le brol.
  • It was I who saved the rubbish.
  • Prince Charles of Belgium on having saved the monarchy as regent in the 6 years following the second world war, without receiving much gratitude from his brother the king or any of the other royals.

• Petit pays, petit esprit.
  • Leopold II of Belgium, commenting on the unwilligness of the parliament and people of Belgium to engage in colonial adventures.

• La musique est un bruit qui coûte cher.
  • Leopold II of Belgium.

About Belgium

• They're the Canada of France.
  • Craig Ferguson in 2008 at the 94th annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.

• He said when he left that he wanted to repair the relationship, and that is very crucial. We need their help in Iraq. The more we can entice others to help us, the less of a target we could be."
  • Barbara Boxer's response to a question from CNN's Wolf Blitzer about what advice she would give President George W. Bush as he visited Belgium that day (February 20, 2005).

• Après des siècles d'esclavage,
  Le Belge sortant du tombeau,
  A reconquis par son courage,
  Son nom, ses droits et son drapeau,
  Et ta main souveraine et fière,
  Peuple désormais indompté,
  Grava sur ta vieille bannière
  Le Roi, la loi, la liberté.
  • The years of slavery are past,
    The Belgian rejoices once more;
    Courage restores to him at last
    The rights he held of yore.
    Strong and firm his grasp will be—
    Keeping the ancient flag unfurled
    To fling its message on the watchful world:
    For king, for right, for liberty.
  • Alexandre Dechet, La Brabançonne (Belgian National Anthem), written during the Revolution of 1830. Music by François van Campenhout; translation by Florence Attenborough, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 66.

Television and movies

• Paul: [of the Tutsi] You cannot seriously think that you can kill them all.

George: And why not? We are halfway there already.

• Quotes from the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda.

• My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with a low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery.
  • Doctor Evil in the Austin Powers Trilogy.

• Rory: "Lorelai Gilmore". Nope, doesn't sound model-y enough. You need something that stands out more. How about "Waffle"? We could call you Waffle and say you're from Belgium.
  • From the second season of Gilmore Girls.

• Kirk: Another Armenia, Belgium ... the weak innocents who always seem to be located on a natural invasion route.
  • Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series.

• Ray: I do know a Belgium joke! Okay, what's Belgium famous for? Chocolates and child abuse and they only invented the chocolates to get to the kids.
  • Ray in In Bruges.

Books

• "Belgium" is the rudest word in the universe, which is "completely banned in all parts of the Galaxy, except in one part, where they could not possibly know what it means."
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy