Charles de Gaulle

One does not arrest Voltaire.

A great country worthy of the name does not have any friends.

I have against me the bourgeois, the military and the diplomats, and for me, only the people who take the Metro.

I grew up to always respect authority and respect those in charge.

France has lost the battle but she has not lost the war.

Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.

I was France.

I might have had trouble saving France in 1946 - I didn't have television then.

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?

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.

We are not here to laugh.

One cannot govern with 'buts'.

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

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.

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

I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.

You'll live. Only the best get killed.

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

When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses; they last while they last.