No, I'm not talking about the Russians; I mean the Germans. In spite of everything, to have pushed so far!

Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.

Every Frenchman wants to enjoy one or more privileges; that's the way he shows his passion for equality

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?

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

The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart form the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines.

Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]