Charles De Gaulle Quotes

Always choose the most difficult way, there you will not meet competitors.

~ Charles De Gaulle

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

~ Charles De Gaulle

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]

~ Charles De Gaulle

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.

~ Charles De Gaulle

The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.

~ Charles De Gaulle

A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

~ Charles De Gaulle

How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?

~ Charles De Gaulle

Before such a prodigious career judgement is torn between blame and admiration.

~ Charles De Gaulle

How can you govern a country with two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?

~ Charles De Gaulle

I respect only those who resist me but cannot tolerate them.

~ Charles De Gaulle

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

Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism pride hardness and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him indeed they will be regarded as high qualities if he can make them the means to achieve great ends.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Faced with crisis the man of character falls back on himself.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.

~ Charles De Gaulle

I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Old age is a shipwreck.

~ Charles De Gaulle

You'll live. Only the best get killed.

~ Charles De Gaulle

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

The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.

~ Charles De Gaulle

The true statesman is the one who is willing to take risks.

~ Charles De Gaulle

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

~ Charles De Gaulle

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

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.

~ Charles De Gaulle

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.

~ Charles De Gaulle

In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.

~ Charles De Gaulle

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?

~ Charles De Gaulle

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

~ Charles De Gaulle

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.

~ Charles De Gaulle