A biography for Janine di Giovannihasn’t been written yet.
“It's hard for the Catholic Church to accept change. When the mass was no longer said in Latin, loyalists went into mourning for years.”
“No one lives on credit in France because banks don't allow overdrafts and zero percent credit cards do not exist.”
“From the earliest age, I was just different. I think that's part of every writer's little revenge. You think, 'I'm not a blonde, blue-eyed cheerleader but I'm going to get out of here and do something.'”
“I'm not sure that finding a husband at university made me any less of a feminist or an academic. I still soaked up Susan Faludi; I still read Doris Lessing. But I did it at the same time I met someone who I felt was my soulmate.”
“Little changes can start to make a difference in the world.”
“I never set out to be a journalist. I wanted to be a humanitarian doctor like Albert Schweitzer, working in Africa.”
“Sibling rivalry was, and still is to this day, rampant in my family. We were all competing for my parents' divided attention.”
“Africa is a very dangerous place.”
“To be a good reporter, writing about war, you have to write about the people. It's not about the tanks or the RPGs or military strategy. It's always about the effect war has on civilians, on society, and how it disrupts and destroys lives.”
“In a very straightforward way, I am a terrible reporter. I'm not someone who can go into a story and not get involved.”
“There is a painful joke that Europeans often tell of their Gallic neighbors: God created France, the most beautiful country in the world with so much good in it, and ended up feeling guilty about it. He had to do something to make it fair. And so, he created the French people.”
“In Paris, where I live, the inner neighborhoods are only available to the white elite. The poor and dispossessed are shuffled out to suburbs and never seen.”
“Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life.”
“Paris certainly needs to promote itself. Although still the most visited city in the world, it has fallen behind London and Berlin in terms of cool.”
“My mother came from a generation that did not want nannies. She had her first child at 24 and her last - me - at 42.”
“The fact is, feminism is not what it used to be.”
“When the body breaks down, it does not all go at once; it goes piece by piece.”
“It can't be bad having a mother who is fulfilled by her work.”
“It is a well known urban myth that the French don't trust banks and store their money under their mattress. It's not that they are tight with money - they just don't trust anyone.”
“Occupy Wall Street was a disorganized movement without a clear focus and power base - essential in any successful revolution - but the message was clear: the divisions between those who are fortunate enough to enjoy city living as opposed to those who find it unbearable are too wide.”