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Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie De Gaulle (1890 - 1970), French writer, general and statesman, leader of the Free France, founder of the Fifth Republic.
Sourced
Most famous
- All my life I have had a certain idea of France.
- Toute ma vie, je me suis fait une certaine idée de la France.
- Opening sentence of his Mémoires de guerre.
- I have understood you!
- Je vous ai compris !
- Said before the population of Algiers after they had called upon him to take power, June 4, 1958.
- Long live free Quebec!
- Vive le Québec libre!
- Said in 1967 on the balcony of Montreal City Hall. It caused a diplomatic uproar with Canada and inflamed the Quebec sovereignty movement.
World War II
- France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war.
- La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre.
- Proclamation, July 1940; and not his famous June 18th appeal, as is commonly thought.
- At the root of our civilization, there is the freedom of each person of thought, of belief, of opinion, of work, of leisure.
- A la base de notre civilisation, il y a la liberté de chacun dans sa pensée, ses croyances, ses opinions, son travail, ses loisirs.
- Speech, November 25 1941.
- 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.
- 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.
- Speech, July 14 1943.
Fifth Republic and other post-WW2
- I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone.
- Je suis un homme qui n'appartient à personne et qui appartient à tout le monde.
- Press conference, May 19 1958
- Politics, when it is an art and a service, not an exploitation, is about acting for an ideal through realities.
- La politique, quand elle est un art et un service, non point une exploitation, c'est une action pour un idéal à travers des réalités.
- Press conference, June 30 1955
- No policy is worth anything outside of reality.
- Il n'y a pas de politique qui vaille en dehors des réalités.
- Televized speech, June 14 1960
- I am not ill. But do not worry, one day, I will certainly die.
- Je ne vais pas mal. Mais rassurez-vous, un jour, je ne manquerai pas de mourir.
- Press conference, February 1965
- Men can have friends, not statesmen.
- Les hommes peuvent avoir des amis, pas les hommes d'Etat.
- Interview, December 9 1967.
- The future does not belong to men...
- L'avenir n'appartient pas aux hommes...
- Speech, December 1967
Writings
- The sword is the axis of the world and grandeur cannot be divided.
- L'épée est l'axe du monde et la grandeur ne se divise pas.
- in Vers l’armée de métier.
- Nothing great is done without great men, and they are great because they wanted it.
- On ne fait rien de grand sans de grands hommes, et ceux-ci le sont pour l'avoir voulu.
- in Vers l’armée de métier.
- France was built with swords. The fleur-de-lis, symbol of national unity, is only the image of a spearwith three pikes.
- La France fut faite à coups d'épée. La fleur de lys, symbole d'unité nationale, n'est que l'image d'un javelot à trois lances.
- in La France et son armée.
- The desire of priviledge and the taste of equality are the dominant and contradictory passions of the French of all times.
- Le désir du privilège et le goût de l'égalité, passions dominantes et contradictoires des Français de toute époque.
- in La France et son armée.
- Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.
- Rien ne rehausse l'autorité mieux que le silence, splendeur des forts et refuge des faibles.
- in Le Fil de l'épée.
- It is better to have a bad method than to have none.
- Il vaut mieux avoir une méthode mauvaise plutôt que de n'en avoir aucune.
- in Le Fil de l’épée.
- Character is the virtue of hard times.
- Le caractère, vertu des temps difficiles.
- in Le fil de l’épée.
- Anything can, one day, happen; even that an act which conforms to honour and honesty can end up, at the end of the line, being a good political decision.
- Tout peut, un jour, arriver, même qu'un acte conforme à l'honneur et à l'honnêteté apparaisse en fin de compte, comme un bon placement politique.
- in Mémoires de guerre.
- The leader is always alone before bad fates.
- Toujours le chef est seul en face du mauvais destin.
- in Mémoires de guerre.
- The government has no propositions to make, but orders to give.
- Le gouvernement n'a pas de propositions à faire, mais des ordres à donner.
- in Mémoires de guerre.
- France cannot be France without greatness.
- La France ne peut être la France sans la grandeur.
- in Mémoires de guerre.
Attributed
- The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
- How do they expect a one-party system to work in a country which has over 200 different kinds of cheese?
- In reference to the possibility of a Communist coup in France.
- Always go for the highest position, it is generally the least crowded.
- Prenez invariablement la position la plus élevée, c'est généralement la moins encombrée.
- Attributed by Henri Amouroux .
- The important things which were said to humanity were always simple things.
- Les choses capitales qui ont été dites à l'humanité ont toujours été des choses simples.
- Attributed by André Malraux.
- Treaties are like roses and young girls; they last while they last.
- attributed to President Charles de Gaulle, from On Franco-German treaty talks, Time 1963-07-12, quoted in Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations, compiled by James B. Simpson (1988) [1]; also The Economist (London) 1972-03-18, at 6, as cited in Chapter 6, note 47 (page 427) of Antonio Cassese (2001) International Law. Oxford. ISBN 0198299982.
- You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
- That's a tall order, indeed.
- Vaste programme, en effet.
- his response to a heckler who yelled Mort aux cons! (Death to the idiots!)
- To Général Jacques Massu : Alors Massu, toujours aussi con ? (So, Massu, still that stupid?)
- Général Jacques Massu answer : Toujours aussi gaulliste, mon Général. (Still that gaullist, general!)
- I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
- A reference to Georges Clemenceau's quote "War is too serious a matter to be left to the military."
- There are three roads to ruin: by gambling, which is the quickest; through women, which is the most pleasurable; and through taking the advice of experts, which is the most certain.
- In the name of policy, change your friends.
- Answer to a politician who told him : "In the name of my friends, change your policy!"
- "Au nom de mes amis, changez de politique !" "Au nom de la politique, changez d'amis."
- Attributed by Marcel Jullian .
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