Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle; 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French military general and statesman. He was the leader of Free Franceand the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic. In 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era and his memory continues to influence...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth22 November 1890
CityLille, France
CountryFrance
I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself.
How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over two hundred varieties of cheese?
I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.
Genius sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.
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.
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.
You'll live. Only the best get killed.
Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.
You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.
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?
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.
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.
France has no friends, only interests.