Charles de Gaulle Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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It is unnecessary, for the Republic has never ceased to exist. I was the Republic.
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You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.
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The cabinet has no propositions to make, but orders to give.
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China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.
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You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.
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I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
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The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.
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Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.
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Difficulty attracts the characterful man, for it is by grasping it that he fulfils himself.
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The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart form the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.
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Never relinquish the initiative.
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Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.
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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.
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Jews remain what they have been at all times: an elite people, self-confident and domineering.
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The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.
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We are not here to laugh.
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Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.
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Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses; they last while they last.
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When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.
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Character is the virtue of hard times.
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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.
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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.
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In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
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Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.