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?

I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself.

China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.

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

France cannot be France without greatness.

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

Deliberation is a function of the many; action is the function of one.