Chatting with a French friend this evening about British and French values. He was very clear about what he saw as the most important French one.
For you, what is the quintessential French value?
Family
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Liberté, et un petit Je ne sais quoi 
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Une bonne greve… 
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Food - seems to be very high on many discussions
Mistrust of their rulers.
Hierarchy and deference.
Some of you will know why I say this. My name is Daveed and I am not the Lord of the bloody Manor. 
Citizenship.
Living
Interesting. I wonder if it’s different for non-natives like me.
…a la retraite 
Everyone is native of somewhere! Do you mean non-French, or non-British, or non-Anglophone?
What strikes me is that each person has given a different answer, so it is most likely different for everyone regardless of native origin.
You are right! My neighbour popped in for a coffee (saves money if I buy the capsules ). I asked him the question>
Facile, il dit, le soleil et la Porsche avec le toit baisse…
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I would certainly miss the sun, but I certainly don’t miss the Porsche 
I’m sure individuals will have different answers, although if you asked enough people there would be trends for certain things.
Looking from the outside, I’d say key factors are a sense of tradition, sense of personal rights (c’est mon droit!) and a desire to be allowed personal anarchy. There’s also an expectation to be protected by the government.
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Yes that’s one that maybe many French people would not cite, as they complain bitterly about the government of the day 
. But from the outside it is embedded as a right in a way that sometimes stuns me.
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Respect et politesse, in rural areas at any rate.
What French value did he say was most important??
Pride in not just being French, but being French from their own “terroir”.
Hence universal suspicion of all things coming out of Paris.
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How interesting Fleur! I asked my girlfriend - French to the core - the question with an immediate reply of respect et fidelitie…
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