History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads.

I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.

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

Nothing more enhances authority than silence. It is the crowning virtue of the strong, the refuge of the weak, the modesty of the proud, the pride of the humble, the prudence of the wise, and the sense of fools. To speak is to . . . dissipate one's strength; whereas what action demands is concentration. Silence is a necessary preliminary to the ordering of one's thoughts.

France cannot be France without greatness.

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

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.