The Edge of the Sword
A source page for quotes linked to Charles de Gaulle.
Related Quotes
“Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”
“The Jews remain what they have been at all times: an elite people, self-confident and domineering.”
“My dear and old country, here we are once again together faced with a heavy trial.”
“It will not be any European statesman who will unite Europe: Europe will be united by the Chinese.”
“I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone.”
Source: Major Addresses, Statements, and Press Conferences, May 19, 1958-January 31, 1964
“Why do you think that at 67 I would start a career as a dictator?”
“Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec! Long live Free Quebec!”
“The cabinet has no propositions to make, but orders to give.”
“Character is the virtue of hard times.”
Source: The Edge of the Sword
“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.”
“How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?”
“In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.”
“Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.”
Source: The Edge of the Sword
“For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her.”
“Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.”
Source: The complete war memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
“I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them.”
“No country without an atom bomb could properly consider itself independent.”
“Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.”
“You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.”
“I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.”