<P> Jean Massieu (French: (ʒɑ̃ masjø); 1772--July 21, 1846) was a pioneering deaf educator . One of six deaf siblings, he was denied schooling until age thirteen when he met Abbé Sicard, who enrolled him in the Bordeaux School for Deaf Children . There he learned to read and write French, and later helped develop the first formalized French Sign Language . He taught at the famous school for the deaf in Paris where Laurent Clerc was one of his students . He began work after a scandal in Paris in Rodez and dedicated his life to educating deaf children . Later he founded a deaf school in Lille, France . </P> <P> Jean Massieu is portrayed in the fictional film Sign Gene, the superhero film about deaf mutants who have superpowers through the use of sign language, as the fourth great - grandfather of Kate Massieu (played by Carola Insolera) the girlfriend of the leading character Tom Clerc, descendant of Laurent Clerc . The film is written and produced by Emilio Insolera and was screened in cinemas in September 2017 . </P> <Ul> <Li> "Let the Englishman have his coffee, and let me have my ham ."--Jean Massieu </Li> <Li> "Gratitude is the memory of the heart", which has become a proverb in the French language . </Li> </Ul> <Li> "Let the Englishman have his coffee, and let me have my ham ."--Jean Massieu </Li>

Who said gratitude is the memory of the heart