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
When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.
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
Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.
Charles de Gaulle
The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart form the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.
Charles de Gaulle
You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.
Charles de Gaulle
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?
Charles de Gaulle
Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.
Charles de Gaulle
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
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
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
I have against me the bourgeois, the military and the diplomats, and for me, only the people who take the Metro.
Charles de Gaulle
Hearing Mass is the ceremony I most favor during my travels. Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
Charles de Gaulle
Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
Charles de Gaulle
I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.
Charles de Gaulle