Top 100 Charles de Gaulle Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Never relinquish the initiative.”

— Charles de Gaulle

52. “It is not tolerable, it is not possible, that from so much death, so much sacrifice and ruin, so much heroism, a greater and better humanity shall not emerge.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

54. “Gentlemen, I am ready for the questions to my answers.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

56. “When I want to know what France thinks, I ask myself.”

— Charles de Gaulle

57. “Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.”

— Charles de Gaulle

58. “It’s impossible in normal times to rally a nation that has 265 kinds of cheese.”

— Charles de Gaulle

59. “The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.”

— Charles de Gaulle

60. “Old age is a shipwreck.”

— Charles de Gaulle

61. “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.”

— Charles de Gaulle

62. “History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.”

— Charles de Gaulle

63. “Betting against gold is the same as betting on governments. He who bets on governments and government money bets against 6,000 years of recorded human history.”

— Charles de Gaulle

64. “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

65. “I cannot prevent the French from being French.”

— Charles de Gaulle

66. “France was built with swords. The fleur-de-lis, symbol of national unity, is only the image of a spear with three pikes.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

68. “Adversity attracts the man of character. He seeks out the bitter joy of responsibility.”

— Charles de Gaulle

69. “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

70. “The evolution toward Communism is inevitable.”

— Charles de Gaulle

71. “You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.”

— Charles de Gaulle

72. “The future does not belong to men...”

— Charles de Gaulle

73. “France cannot be France without greatness.”

— Charles de Gaulle

74. “In politics it is necessary either to betray one’s country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.”

— Charles de Gaulle

75. “Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec! Long live Free Quebec!”

— Charles de Gaulle

76. “Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one.”

— Charles de Gaulle

77. “Authority doesn’t work without prestige, or prestige without distance.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

80. “Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.”

— Charles de Gaulle

81. “I’m not at all embarrassed to be a revolutionary.”

— Charles de Gaulle

82. “Every Frenchman wants to enjoy one or more privileges; that’s the way he shows his passion for equality.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

84. “No policy is worth anything outside of reality.”

— Charles de Gaulle

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

— Charles de Gaulle

86. “I might have had trouble saving France in 1946 – I didn’t have television then.”

— Charles de Gaulle

87. “I feel not a person but an instrument of destiny.”

— Charles de Gaulle

88. “Treaties you see are like girls and roses; they last while they last.”

— Charles de Gaulle

89. “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.”

— Charles de Gaulle

90. “I myself have become a Gaullist only little by little.”

— Charles de Gaulle

91. “For all of us Frenchmen, the guiding rule of our epoch is to be faithful to France.”

— Charles de Gaulle

92. “To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.”

— Charles de Gaulle

93. “In war, the policy of least exertion always risks being paid for dearly.”

— Charles de Gaulle

94. “Men can have friends, statesmen cannot.”

— Charles de Gaulle

95. “These people really aim very badly.”

— Charles de Gaulle

96. “The cabinet has no propositions to make, but orders to give.”

— Charles de Gaulle

97. “No, I’m not talking about the Russians; I mean the Germans. In spite of everything, to have pushed so far!”

— Charles de Gaulle

98. “Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on Radio London.”

— Charles de Gaulle

99. “Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.”

— Charles de Gaulle

100. “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.”

— Charles de Gaulle