France cannot be France without greatness. — Charles De Gaulle

All my life I have had a certain idea of France. — Charles De Gaulle

When I want to know what France thinks, I ask myself. — Charles De Gaulle

France has lost the battle but she has not lost the war. — Charles De Gaulle

I wouldn’t mind dying for France, but not for Air France. — Charles De Gaulle

France has no friends, only interests. — Charles De Gaulle

I might have had trouble saving France in 1946–I didn’t have television then. — Charles De Gaulle

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. — Charles De Gaulle

For all of us Frenchmen, the guiding rule of our epoch is to be faithful to France. — Charles De Gaulle

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

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

In the tumult of great events, solitude was what I hoped for. Now it is what I love. How is it possible to be contented with anything else when one has come face to face with history? — Charles De Gaulle

The more I get to know men, the more I love dogs. — Charles De Gaulle

Love is the strongest force the world possesses, and yet it is the Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown. — Charles De Gaulle

They assure love from the beginning of life to its conclusion and, in the end, they govern our existence. — Jonathan Fenby

Genius sometimes consists of knowing when to stop. — Charles De Gaulle

One must speak little. In action one must say nothing. The chief is the one who does not speak. — Charles De Gaulle

Deliberation is the function of many, action is the function of one. — Charles De Gaulle

The perfection preached in the gospels never yet built an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning. — Charles De Gaulle

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone. — Charles De Gaulle

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

Difficulty attracts the characterful man, for it is by grasping it that he fulfils himself. — Charles De Gaulle

Belgium is a country invented by the British to annoy the French. — Charles De Gaulle

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

The desire of privilege and the taste of equality are the dominant and contradictory passions of the French of all times. — Charles De Gaulle

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

Old France, weighed down with history, prostrated by wars and revolutions, endlessly vacillating from greatness to decline, but revived, century after century, by the genius of renewal! — Charles De Gaulle

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

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

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

I respect only those who stand up to me, but I find such people intolerable. — Jonathan Fenby

It’s impossible in normal times to rally a nation that has 265 kinds of cheese. — Charles De Gaulle

How can you govern a country with two hundred and forty six varieties of cheese? — Charles De Gaulle

I myself have become a Gaullist only little by little. — 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

How can one conceive of a one party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheese. — Charles De Gaulle

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty–six different kinds of cheese? — Charles De Gaulle