Heads Of Government

"The future does not belong to men and I do not predict it."

"Some even feared that the Jews, hitherto widely dispersed and who had remained what they had always been, that is to say, an elite people, sure of itself and domineering, once they were together again in the lands of their former grandeur might transform into a burning, conquering ambition the heart-moving wishes voiced since nineteen centuries: next year in Jerusalem."

"Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec! Long live free Quebec!"

"Of course one can jump up and down yelling Europe ! Europe ! Europe ! But it amounts to nothing and it means nothing."

"I am not ill. But do not worry, one day, I will certainly die."

"Treaties are like maidens and roses. They each have their day."

"Macmillan had crossed the Atlantic to throw himself into the arms of Kennedy to whom he sold his birthright in exchange for a dish of Polaris... Let us always recall this obvious truth. The Common Market cannot remain the Common Market and at the same time absorb Great Britain and her clients. The British would only enter in order to break up the machine."

"What England has done across the centuries and in the world is recognised as immense. Although there have often been conflicts with France, Britain's glorious participation in the victory which crowned the First World War—we French, we shall always admire it. As for the role England played in the most dramatic and decisive moments of the Second World War, no one has the right to forget it. In truth, the destiny of the free world, and first of all ours and even that of the United States and Russia, depended in a large measure on the resolution, the solidity and the courage of the English people, as Churchill was able to harness them. Even at the present moment no one can contest British capacity and worth."

"England in effect is insular, she is maritime, she is linked through her exchanges, her markets, her supply lines to the most diverse and often the most distant countries; she pursues essentially industrial and commercial activities, and only slight agricultural ones. She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions. In short, the nature, the structure, the very situation that are England's differ profoundly from those of the continentals."

"[T]his treaty [the Treaty of Rome], which was precise and complete enough concerning industry, was not at all so on the subject of agriculture, and for our country this had to be settled. Indeed, it is obvious that agriculture is an essential element in our national activity as a whole. We cannot conceive of a Common Market in which French agriculture would not find outlets in keeping with its production. And we agree further that, of the Six, we are the country on which this necessity is imposed in the most imperative manner."

"How can you govern a country that has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?"

"No policy is worth anything outside of reality."

"France cannot be France without greatness."

"The cabinet has no propositions to make, but orders to give."

"Difficulty attracts a man of character, for it is by embracing it that he fulfills himself."

"The leader is always alone before bad fates."

"Anything can happen someday, even that an act conforming to honour and honesty can end up, at the end of the line, as a good political decision."

"All my life, I have had a certain idea of France."

"Yes, it is Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals, it is Europe, it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the fate of the world."

"It's very good that there are yellow French people, black French people, brown French people. They show that France is open to all races and that it has a universal vocation. But on the condition that they remain a small minority. Otherwise, France would no longer be France. We are above all a European people of white race, Greek and Latin culture and Christian religion. Let's not tell stories! Have you gone to see the Muslims? Did you look at them with their turbans and their djellabas? You see clearly that they are not French. Those who advocate integration have the brains of hummingbirds, even if they are very learned. Try to incorporate oil and vinegar. Shake the bottle. After a while, they will separate again. Arabs are Arabs, French are French. Do you believe that the French body can absorb ten million Muslims, who tomorrow will be twenty million and the day after tomorrow forty? If we integrate, if all the Arabs and Berbers of Algeria were considered French, how would we prevent them from settling in mainland France, when the standard of living is so much higher there? My village would no longer be called Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, but Colombey-les-Deux-Mosqués!"

"I have understood you!"

"Why do you think that at 67 I would start a career as a dictator?"

"I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone."

"Politics, when it is an art and a service, not an exploitation, is about acting for an ideal through realities."

"A foreign military leader whose daring was feared by those who profited by it."

"Now she is like the others."

"It is unnecessary, for the Republic has never ceased to exist. I was the Republic."

"I am retiring. I have a mission, and it is coming to an end … France may still one day need an image that is pure. She must be left this image. If Joan of Arc had married, she would no longer have been Joan of Arc."

"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."

"At the root of our civilization, there is the freedom of each person of thought, of belief, of opinion, of work, of leisure."

"France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war."

"The desire of privilege and the taste of equality are the dominant and contradictory passions of the French of all times."

"France was built with swords. The fleur-de-lis, symbol of national unity, is only the image of a spear with three pikes."

"Nothing great is done without great men, and they are great because they wanted it."

"The sword is the axis of the world and grandeur cannot be divided."

"Character is the virtue of hard times."

"It is better to have a bad method than to have none."

"Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak."

"A state worthy of the name has no friends."

"Within ten years, we shall have the means to kill 80 million Russians. I truly believe that one does not light-heartedly attack people who are able to kill 80 million Russians, even if one can kill 800 million French, that is if there were 800 million French."

"Do you know that you have caused us more trouble than all the rest of our European allies?" "I do not doubt it. France is a great power."

"When we were children, we often played war. We had a fine collection of lead soldiers. My brothers would take different countries: Xavier had Italy; Pierre, Germany. Or they would swap around. Well, I, gentlemen, always had France."

"Men may have friends, statesmen cannot."

"I must say that if, on resuming control of our affairs, I embraced the Common Market forthwith, it was as much because of our position as an agricultural country as for the spur it would give to our industry."

"We hold that international trade should be based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and the exchange of needed goods. We support the urgent demand of the developing countries to improve trade terms for their raw materials, primary products and semi-manufactured and manufactured goods, to expand their market and to fix equitable and favourable prices. We support the developing countries in establishing various organizations of raw material exporting countries for a united struggle against colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism."

"For the modernization of science and technology, we must have a mighty scientific and technical force serving the working class, a force which is both “red and expert” and includes a large number of scientists, engineers and technicians who are first rate by world standards. It will not be easy for us to build up such a force."

"It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice."

"We hold that economic aid to the developing countries must strictly respect the sovereignty of the recipient countries and must not be accompanied by any political or military conditions and the extortion of any special privileges or excessive profits. Loans to the developing countries should be interest-free or low-interest and allow for delayed repayment of capital and interest, or even reduction and cancellation of debts in case of necessity. We are opposed to the exploitation of developing countries by usury or blackmail in the name of aid."

"Science and technology are part of the productive forces. Mental workers who serve socialism are part of the working people. A correct understanding of these two facts is essential to the rapid development of our scientific enterprises. Once we have accepted these premises, it follows that we must make every effort to develop scientific research and education in science and to encourage the revolutionary initiative of our scientific, technical and educational workers."

"In societies under the rule of exploiting classes, there are various kinds of mental workers. Some are wholly in the service of the reactionary ruling classes and thus stand in an antagonistic relationship to manual workers. But even in such a situation, as Lenin said, many of the intellectuals engaged in scientific and technical work are themselves not capitalists but scholars, even though they are filled with bourgeois prejudices. The fruits of their work are used by the exploiters, but in general this is determined by the social system and not by their own free choice. They are totally different from those politicians who rack their brains for expedients of direct service to the reactionary ruling classes."