Charles de Gaulle Quotes, Sayings, Remarks, Thoughts and Speeches
Charles de Gaulle Quotes and Sayings
- 1
A great country worthy of the name does not have any friends.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 2
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 3
As an adolescent I was convinced that France would have to go through gigantic trials, that the interest of life consisted in one day rendering her some signal service and that I would have the occasion to do so.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 4
Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 5
China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 6
Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 7
Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 8
Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 9
Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 10
Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 11
For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 12
France cannot be France without greatness.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 13
France has lost the battle but she has not lost the war.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 14
Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 15
Hearing Mass is the ceremony I most favor during my travels. Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 16
I grew up to always respect authority and respect those in charge.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 17
I have against me the bourgeois, the military and the diplomats, and for me, only the people who take the Metro.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 18
I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 19
I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 20
I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 21
I might have had trouble saving France in 1946 - I didn't have television then.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 22
I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 23
I was France.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 24
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 25
In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 26
In the tumult of men and events, solitude was my temptation; now it is my friend. What other satisfaction can be sought once you have confronted History?
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 27
It is not tolerable, it is not possible, that from so much death, so much sacrifice and ruin, so much heroism, a greater and better humanity shall not emerge.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 28
Never relinquish the initiative.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 29
No country without an atom bomb could properly consider itself independent.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 30
No nation has friends only interests.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 31
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 32
Old age is a shipwreck.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 33
Once upon a time there was an old country, wrapped up in habit and caution. We have to transform our old France into a new country and marry it to its time.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 34
One cannot govern with 'buts'.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 35
Only peril can bring the French together. One can't impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 different kinds of cheese.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 36
Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 37
Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 38
Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 39
Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 40
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 41
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 42
The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 43
The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart form the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 44
The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 45
The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 46
There can be no prestige without mystery, for familiarity breeds contempt.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 47
To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 48
Treaties are like roses and young girls. They last while they last.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 49
Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses; they last while they last.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 50
When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 51
When I want to know what France thinks, I ask myself.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 52
You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 53
You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 54
You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
- 55
You'll live. Only the best get killed.
Charles de Gaulle | Refcard PDF ↑
