Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first. – Charles de Gaulle
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so. – Charles de Gaulle
In politics it is necessary either to betray one’s country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate. – 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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