Belgium

Capital:             Brussels
Government:     Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch
Currency:         Euro (EUR)
Area:                30,510 km2
Population:       10,379,067 (July 2006 est.)
Language:         Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 32%, German (official) less than 1%, 8% bilingual Dutch-French

Happiness is rarely absent; it is we that know not of its presence.
-Maurice Maeterlinck

Belgium Quotes

Fashion is like the ashes left behind by the uniquely shaped flames of the fire, the trace alone revealing that a fire actually took place.
-Paul de Man

My talent is such that no undertaking, however vast in size... has ever surpassed my courage.
-Peter Paul Rubens

Faithfulness lives where love is stronger than instinct.
-Paul Carvel

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since
the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.-
Rene Magritte

Who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little.
-Paul Carvel

Do we not all spend the greater part of our lives under the shadow of an event that has not yet come to pass?
-Maurice Maeterlinck

Education is sown in children but must be cultivated all life long.
-Paul Carvel

To witness the birth of a child is our best opportunity to experience the meaning of the word miracle.
-Paul Carvel

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.
-Rene Magritte

Metaphors are much more tenacious than facts.
-Paul de Man

How strangely do we diminish a thing as soon as we try to express it in words.
-Maurice Maeterlinck