“You start out giving your hat, then you give your coat, then your shirt, then your skin and finally your soul.”

How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?

It is better to have a bad method than to have none.

Authority doesn’t work without prestige, or prestige without distance.

France has no friends, only interests.

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.

Betting against gold is the same as betting on governments. He who bets on governments and government money bets against 6,000 years of recorded human history.

In war, the policy of least exertion always risks being paid for dearly.

Character is the virtue of hard times.

Adversity attracts the man of character. He seeks out the bitter joy of responsibility.

You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.

Treaties are like roses and young girls. They last while they last.

One can unite the French only under the threat of danger. One cannot simply bring together a nation that produces 265 kinds of cheese.

In the tumult of great events, solitude was what I hoped for. Now it is what I love. How is it possible to be contented with anything else when one has come face to face with history?

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.

It’s better to have a bad plan then no plan at all.

The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.

Either a princess or a pauper can feel generous. Generosity is the quality of the spirit. When you feel generous your life becomes, abundant full of compassion and love.

Giving very much don’t fuck with me.

Your richness is on your ability to share and not in how much you have.

The best people give more to the world than they can ever hope to get from it.

I think it is a man’s duty to make all the money he can, keep all that he can and give away all that he can.

If you are a taker of happiness you get misery, if you are a giver of happiness you get joy and love.

Become someone’s hero.

The giver gives, but really he is sowing the seed for later, the gift of a rich harvest.