I predict you will sink step by step into a bottomless quagmire, however much you spend in men and money." (On Vietnam War)

I cannot prevent the French from being French

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

I respect only those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them.

Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.

It is not tolerable, it is not possible, that from so much death, so much sacrifice and ruin, so much heroism, a greater and better humanity shall not emerge.

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