Quotes by Charles de Gaulle

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

To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?

I have against me the bourgeois, the military and the diplomats, and for me, only the people who take the Métro.

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

Nothing more enhances authority than silence. It is the crowning virtue of the strong, the refuge of the weak, the modesty of the proud, the pride of the humble, the prudence of the wise, and the sense of fools. To speak is to . . . dissipate one's strength; whereas what action demands is concentration. Silence is a necessary preliminary to the ordering of one's thoughts.

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

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.

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

How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over 200 varieties of cheeses?