"Our Socialists chuckled when Poincaré fell finally, beaten only by health. He specialized, they said, in upsetting apple-carts. Seemingly they were happier with Laval. I should have felt mean in joining the chorus of relief from the doughty little fellow. At least he was Someone—not to be called blind because he was resolute. In my boyhood the French seemed to cry vive everything but a government; Poincaré at moments looked durable. "The eternal and to me most repugnant Poincaré", Curzon called him; "when firmly handled he is amenable", Curzon added, forgetting his own tears. Poincaré was three or four things—not more—and amenable was the fourth. He died in 1934 respected by over half of his compatriots—an unusual proportion—because he always knew his own mind—an unusual attribute. He just was not our idea of a Frog. We supposed that Germans shout less than the French, so we entered the thirties unable to measure Sieg Heils as Frenchmen could."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Presidents of FrancePrime Ministers of FrancePoliticians from FranceMinisters of Foreign Affairs (France)Finance ministers
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Lord Vansittart, The Mist Procession (1958), p. 381
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Poincar%C3%A9
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Raymond Poincaré
28 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Raymond Poincaré →
Related Quotes
"Jaurès had over the last 8 days expiated many faults. He had helped the government in its diplomacy and, if war break…"
"Excellent attitude of the socialists, even of the revolutionaries and of the CGT...We have not had arrested any of th…"
"Had Lloyd George supported whole-heartedly the maximum demands of the French in 1919 could we have escaped 1939? No c…"
"Yesterday Paris gave a sad spectacle which contrasts with the sang-froid of these last days and with the sang-froid o…"
"We are expecting, of course, a German attack through Belgium, as our High Command has always predicted. We have const…"
"It was for all the members of the Cabinet a relief. Never before had a declaration of war been welcomed with such sat…"
"I had spoken of the [illegible] of things and added that at last we could release the cry, until now smothered in our…"
"From the very beginning of hostilities, came into conflict the two ideas which for fifty months were to struggle for …"
"What justice also demands, inspired by the same feeling, is the punishment of the guilty and effective guaranties aga…"
"The reduction of the executive power is the wish of neither the chambers nor the country...During all my magistracy, …"