Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance.
Author
Charles de Gaulle
23 quotations
About Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and its puppet state of Vichy France in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. Following the 1958 Algiers putsch, he came out of retirement at the request of President René Coty, who appointed him Prime Minister. He commissioned a new 1958 French constitution which was approved by voters …
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by Charles de GaulleFrance has lost the battle but she has not lost the war.
I grew up to always respect authority and respect those in charge.
I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them.
The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.
Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.
I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
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Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant.
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.
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.
The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.
You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
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?
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.
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.
You'll live. Only the best get killed.
Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone.
Old age is a shipwreck.