Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970,) fully Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, was a French general and political leader. He saved France’s honor from the shame of defeat during World War II. He later served as head of government 1944–46, and, as the architect of the Fifth Republic, served as its first president 1958–69.
Born in Lille, de Gaulle was educated at the École Militaire of St Cyr. He served as an army officer during World War I. He drew on this experience to develop a new theory of mechanized strategy, which was expounded in The Army of the Future (1932.)
During World War II, de Gaulle was a member of the Cabinet at the time of France’s surrender in June 1940. He escaped to Britain, where he was a mastermind of the Free French movement. He served as a focus for the Resistance movement, in which he played an active role during the rest of the war. He returned to Paris in 1944 with the first liberation forces.
Following the war, de Gaulle was elected president of the provisional government but resigned in 1946 following a disagreement over the constitution adopted by the Fourth Republic. He became president in 1959 and went on to establish the presidency as a democratically elected office in 1962. De Gaulle was reelected in 1965 but resigned in 1969 after the electorate rejected his proposed constitutional changes.
In addition to disengaging France from the Algerian crisis and strengthening the French economy, de Gaulle is remembered for his assertive foreign policy (he withdrew French forces from NATO and blocked Britain’s entry to the European Economic Community) and for subduing the student uprisings and strikes of May 1968.
De Gaulle’s memoirs were published as The Complete War Memoirs (1964, reissued 1998; originally published in French, 1954–59.)
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Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Greatness
When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. So we were often angry at each other.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Anger
Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Silence, One liners
How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over two hundred varieties of cheese?
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Government
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: One liners
The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Leadership
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.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Silence
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
Topics: Crises, Self-reliance, Character, Confidence
France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war.
—Charles de Gaulle
A man of character finds a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is only by coming to grips with difficulty that he can realize his potentialities.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Character
Old age is a shipwreck.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Old Age, Age, Aging
How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Government
Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Action
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Humility
No country without an atom bomb could properly consider itself independent.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: War
Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Politicians, Politics
The sword is the axis of the world, and grandeur is indivisible.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: World
Church is the only place where someone speaks to me and I do not have to answer back.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Religion
For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her.
—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
Topics: Determination, Achievement, Accomplishment
One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day was; one cannot judge life until death.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Death
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Marriage, Science, Politicians, Politics, Imagination
No nation has friends only interests
—Charles de Gaulle
To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Government, One liners
Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Patriotism
Authority doesn’t work without prestige, or prestige without distance.
—Charles de Gaulle
France has lost the battle but she has not lost the war
—Charles de Gaulle
Topics: Battle
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
Topics: Freedom
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