“Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back upon himself.”

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.

One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day was; one cannot judge life until death.

For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her.

Belgium is a country invented by the British to annoy the French.

I have heard your views. They do not harmonize with mine. The decision is taken unanimously.

I’m not at all embarrassed to be a revolutionary.

The graveyards are full of indispensable men.

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

We may go to the moon, but that’ s not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us.

A great country worthy of the name does not have any friends.

To govern is always to choose among disadvantages.

Diplomats are useful only in fair weather. As soon as it rains they drown in every drop.

We must have no carelessness in our dealings with public property or the expenditure of public money. Such a condition is characteristic either of an undeveloped people, or of a decadent civilization. America is neither.

Man’s nature is made up of four elements, which produce in him four attributes, namely, the beastly, the brutal, the satanic, and the divine. In man there is something of the pig, the dog, the devil, and the saint.

I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable. I suppose I’m larger than life.

Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.

There are people who take fashion at different levels, but personally, I’m just a kid with it.

Playing our parts. Yes, we all have to do that and from childhood on, I have found that my own character has been much harder to play worthily and far harder at times to comprehend than any of the roles I have portrayed.

Does money upset the hearts of learned men? He answered, “men whose hearts are changed by money are not learned.”

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.