AS A WRITER, CHARLES DE GAULLE HAS THE GIFT OF CLARITY, AS 
A POLITICIAN HE KNOWS THE USES OF AMBIGUITY, AND AS A 
STATESMAN HE HAS SHOWN REMARKABLE CONSISTENCY . FROM NEARLY 30 YEARS 
OF WRITINGS AND REMARKS COME THESE AFFIRMATIONS OF HIS ASPIRATIONS AND 
AMBITIONS : ON NATO ALLIANCES DO NOT SETTLE EVERYTHING . (1963) 
THE GLORY OF FRANCE OUR COUNTRY, WITH HER TINTED SKY, HER 
VARIED CONTOURS, HER FERTILE SOIL, OUR FIELDS FULL OF FINE CORN 
AND VINES AND LIVESTOCK, OUR INDUSTRY, OUR GIFTS OF INITIATIVE, ADAPTATION 
AND SELF-RESPECT, MAKE US, ABOVE ALL OTHERS, A RACE CREATED FOR 
BRILLIANT DEEDS . THE SWORD IS THE AXIS OF THE WORLD, 
AND GREATNESS CANNOT BE SHARED . (1934) . THE EMOTIONAL SIDE 
OF ME TENDS TO IMAGINE FRANCE, LIKE THE PRINCESS IN THE 
STORIES OR THE MADONNA IN THE FRESCOES, AS DEDICATED TO AN 
EXALTED AND EXCEPTIONAL DESTINY . BUT THE POSITIVE SIDE OF MY 
MIND ALSO ASSURES ME THAT FRANCE IS NOT REALLY HERSELF UNLESS 
IN THE FRONT RANK ; THAT ONLY VAST ENTERPRISES ARE CAPABLE 
OF COUNTERBALANCING THE DIVISIVE FERMENTS WHICH ARE INHERENT IN HER PEOPLE 
. IN SHORT, TO MY MIND, FRANCE CANNOT BE FRANCE WITHOUT 
GREATNESS . (2955) . WHO IN GOOD FAITH CAN DISPUTE THE 
FACT THAT FRANCE MUST HELP TO BUILD WESTERN EUROPE INTO AN 
ORGANIZED UNION OF STATES SO THAT GRADUALLY THERE MAY BE ESTABLISHED 
THE MOST POWERFUL, PROSPEROUS AND INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND MILITARY COMPLEX 
IN THE WORLD ? (1962) FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE URALS 
THE EQUILIBRIUM OF EUROPE, THE GUARANTEE OF PEACE ALONG THE RHINE, 
THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE VISTULA, DANUBE AND BALKAN STATES, THE CREATION 
OF SOME FORM OF ASSOCIATION WITH THE PEOPLES ALL OVER THE 
WORLD TO WHOM WE HAVE OPENED THE DOORS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, 
AN ORGANIZATION OF NATIONS WHICH WILL BE SOMETHING MORE THAN AN 
ARENA FOR DISPUTES BETWEEN AMERICA AND RUSSIA THESE SURELY ARE OUR 
GREAT INTERESTS IN TOMORROW'S WORLD . (1944) . PERHAPS IT MIGHT 
BE POSSIBLE TO RENEW FRANCO-RUSSIAN SOLIDARITY IN SOME FASHION, WHICH, EVEN 
IF REPEATEDLY BETRAYED AND REPUDIATED, REMAINS NO LESS A PART OF 
THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS BOTH WITH REGARD TO THE GERMAN 
DANGER AND THE ANGLO-SAXON EFFORTS TO ASSERT THEIR HEGEMONY . (1944) 
. I AM CONVINCED THAT IF FRANCE TOOK THE INITIATIVE TO 
SUMMON EUROPE TO ORGANIZE ITSELF, IN PARTICULAR WITH GERMAN HELP, THE 
WHOLE EUROPEAN ATMOSPHERE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE URALS WOULD BE 
CHANGED . (1950) THE AMERICANS IN THE MORTAL DANGERS WE FRENCH 
HAVE SURVIVED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY, THE U.S . 
HAS NOT GIVEN US THE IMPRESSION THAT IT REGARDS ITS OWN 
DESTINY AS LINKED WITH THAT OF FRANCE, THAT IT WISHES FRANCE 
TO BE GREAT AND STRONG, THAT IT IS DOING ALL IT 
CAN TO HELP HER TO REMAIN OR BECOME SO ONCE AGAIN 
. (1945) . THE ALLIANCE HAS BEEN BUILT ON THE BASIS 
OF INTEGRATION, IN WHICH THE DEFENSE OF EACH OF THE COUNTRIES 
OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE, APART FROM ENGLAND, HAS NO NATIONAL CHARACTER, IN 
WHICH IN FACT ALL IS COMMANDED BY THE AMERICANS, AND IT 
IS THE AMERICANS WHO DETERMINE THE USE OF YOUR ATOMIC WEAPONS 
. (1960) . THE AMERICAN INTEREST IS NOT ALWAYS THE FRENCH 
INTEREST . THIS WILL BE MORE AND MORE TRUE IN THE 
FUTURE, WHICH WILL GIVE EUROPE A GREATER AND GREATER WEIGHT, AND 
WHICH WILL THEREFORE CONTRIBUTE TO DIMINISHING THE RELATIVE WEIGHT OF THE 
U.S . (1963) . FOLLOWING BRITAIN, OTHER STATES WOULD WANT TO 
ENTER THE COMMON MARKET . IN THE END THERE WOULD APPEAR 
A COLOSSAL ATLANTIC COMMUNITY UNDER AMERICAN DEPENDENCE AND LEADERSHIP, WHICH WOULD 
SOON COMPLETELY SWALLOW UP THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY . (1963) BRITAIN & 
EUROPE ENGLAND AND FRANCE WILL TOGETHER CREATE PEACE, AS TWICE IN 
30 YEARS THEY HAVE TOGETHER CONFRONTED WAR . (1944) . ENGLAND 
HAS TURNED OVER TO THE AMERICANS WHAT MEAGER ATOMIC FORCES SHE 
HAD . SHE COULD HAVE TURNED THEM OVER TO EUROPE . 
THUS SHE HAS MADE HER CHOICE . I AM DISTRESSED TO 
SEE ENGLAND ALIGN HERSELF WITH THE U.S., FOR SHE RISKS ACTING 
LIKE THEIR TRAVELING SALESMAN . THE ENGLISH WILL NO DOUBT ENTER 
THE COMMON MARKET, PERHAPS IN 50 YEARS, AND I WILL WITHOUT 
DOUBT NO LONGER BE HERE . (1963) THIRD FORCE I HAVE 
SOUGHT TO ASSURE FRANCE PRIMACY IN WESTERN EUROPE BY PREVENTING THE 
RISE OF A NEW REICH THAT MIGHT AGAIN THREATEN ITS SAFETY 
; TO COOPERATE WITH EAST AND WEST AND, IF NEED BE, 
CONTRACT THE NECESSARY ALLIANCES ON ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER WITHOUT 
EVER ACCEPTING ANY KIND OF DEPENDENCY ; TO PERSUADE THE STATES 
ALONG THE RHINE, THE ALPS AND THE PYRENEES TO FORM A 
POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND STRATEGIC BLOC ; TO ESTABLISH THIS ORGANIZATION AS 
ONE OF THE THREE WORLD POWERS AND, IF NECESSARY, AS THE 
ARBITER BETWEEN THE SOVIET AND ANGLO-AMERICAN CAMPS . SINCE 1940, MY 
EVERY WORD AND DEED HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO ESTABLISHING THESE POSSIBILITIES 
. (1955) . ONLY FRANCE KNOWS THAT PEACE OR WAR WILL 
BE DECIDED IN EUROPE . YES, IT IS EUROPE, IT IS 
ALL EUROPE THAT WILL DECIDE THE DESTINY OF THE WORLD . 
IF THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE, ON WHICHEVER SIDE OF THE CURTAIN 
THEY FIND THEMSELVES, WANT TO ESTABLISH CONCORD AMONG THEMSELVES, THEN PEACE 
WILL BE ASSURED . BUT IF EUROPE REMAINS DIVIDED IN TWO 
OPPOSED FACTIONS, WAR WILL SOONER OR LATER DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE 
. (1959) . WHO CAN SAY WHAT TOMORROW WILL BRING ? 
WHO CAN SAY THAT, IN THE FUTURE, IF THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND 
SHOULD CHANGE COMPLETELY, THE TWO POWERS (THE U.S . AND RUSSIA) 
THAT HAVE THE NUCLEAR MONOPOLY WILL NOT AGREE TO DIVIDE THE 
WORLD ? WHO CAN SAY THAT IF THE OCCASION ARISES, EACH 
OF THE TWO, WHILE DECIDING NOT TO LAUNCH ITS MISSILES AT 
THE MAIN ENEMY, SO THAT IT MIGHT ITSELF BE SPARED, WILL 
NOT CRUSH THE OTHERS ? IT IS POSSIBLE TO IMAGINE THAT, 
ON SOME AWFUL DAY, WESTERN EUROPE WOULD BE WIPED OUT FROM 
MOSCOW AND CENTRAL EUROPE FROM WASHINGTON . AND WHO CAN EVEN 
SAY THAT THE TWO RIVALS, AFTER I KNOW NOT WHAT POLITICAL 
UPHEAVAL, WILL NOT UNITE ? (1959) ON LEADERSHIP GLORY GIVES HERSELF 
ONLY TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF HER . (1934) 
. IT WAS BY ACTING AS THE INFLEXIBLE CHAMPION OF THE 
NATION AND THE STATE THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE FOR ME TO 
GATHER THE CONSENT, EVEN THE ENTHUSIASM, OF THE FRENCH, AND TO 
WIN FROM FOREIGNERS RESPECT AND CONSIDERATION . THOSE WHO WERE OFFENDED 
BY THIS INTRANSIGENCE WERE UNWILLING TO SEE THAT FOR ME THE 
SLIGHTEST WAVERING WOULD HAVE BROUGHT COLLAPSE . LIMITED AND ALONE THOUGH 
I WAS, I HAD TO CLIMB TO THE HEIGHTS AND NEVER 
THEN TO COME DOWN . (1940, DESCRIBING HIS WARTIME LEADERSHIP) . 
EVERY MAN OF ACTION HAS A STRONG DOSE OF EGOTISM, PRIDE, 
HARDNESS AND CUNNING . BUT ALL THOSE THINGS WILL BE FORGIVEN 
HIM IF HE CAN MAKE OF THEM THE MEANS TO ACHIEVE 
GREAT ENDS . ALOOFNESS, CHARACTER, AND THE PERSONIFICATION OF GREATNESS, THESE 
QUALITIES IT IS THAT SURROUND WITH PRESTIGE THOSE WHO ARE PREPARED 
TO CARRY A BURDEN WHICH IS TOO HEAVY FOR LESSER MORTALS 
. 