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

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.

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.

It’s impossible in normal times to rally a nation that has 265 kinds of cheese.

Victory often goes to the army that makes the least mistakes, not the most brilliant plans.

He who laughs last didn’t get the joke.

You know the trouble with real life? There’s no danger music.

The truth is a double-edged sword; it is a dangerous thing.

A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.

He is many things – dangerous and devious, cunning and deadly, a good friend and an implacable enemy – but he comes from an age when a man’s word was indeed precious.

Solitude is dangerous. It’s very addictive.

I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect – in terror.

The money can be a hindrance to someone like me because the danger is that you start thinking, ‘Is that a $20 million take?’ That kind of thing, and being self-critical.

When contemplated in its extreme, almost any power looks dangerous.