“Genius sometimes consists of knowing when to stop.”

I wouldn’t mind dying for France, but not for Air France.

The future does not belong to men.

I am not bad, thank you. But don’t worry, one of these days I shall certainly die.

France cannot be France without greatness.

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.

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

One cannot govern with ‘buts’.

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. We are angry at each other much of the time.

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

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

France was built with swords. The fleur-de-lis, symbol of national unity, is only the image of a spear with three pikes.

The evolution toward Communism is inevitable.

Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.

There can be no prestige without mystery, for familiarity breeds contempt.

You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.

Without patience, there can be no genius.

Genius is the capacity of avoiding hard work.

The major work of the world is not done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people, with balance in their lives, who have learned to work in an extraordinary manner.

The gratitude you receive from others is a reflection of your genius.

I believe that instinct is what makes a genius a genius.

Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.

Genius is the ability to act rightly without precedent – the power to do the right thing the first time.

True genius, in strategy or anywhere, lies in self-control, self-mastery, presence of mind, fluidity of thought.