Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Charles de Gaulle Military Commander

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Nov 22, 1890
  • Died: Nov 9, 1970

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was the dominant military and political leader of France for much of the period from 1940 to 1969. Refusing to accept his government's armistice with the German invaders in 1940, he set up his base in London, proclaimed himself the incarnation of France, and created the Free French movement. During the war he rallied the overseas colonies, organized the Resistance from abroad, and struggled to gain full recognition from the British and Americans. A firm proponent of democracy, he became the leader of the Provisional Government of France following its liberation in 1944 and destroyed the vestiges of the authoritarian Vichy regime. He retired from office in 1946, but returned in 1958 as France verged on civil war over the Algerian crisis. As president during the new Fifth Republic, he revised the constitution to provide for presidential control of foreign and military policy, granted independence to Algeria and the African colonies, stabilized politics, and restored the nation's economic health.

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

Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.

You'll live. Only the best get killed.

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

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

Old age is a shipwreck.

You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

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

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

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

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