I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself.
Charles De GaulleRead
How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously suggests that governing a diverse and complex society is challenging.
Charles De Gaulle's quote playfully highlights the complexities and absurdities that come with governing a nation rich in diversity, using the metaphor of having 246 varieties of cheese to symbolize the multifaceted nature of society. It underscores the idea that a leader must navigate through various tastes, preferences, and cultural intricacies, making governance a daunting task.
Themes
GovernanceDiversityHumorLeadershipCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about cultural diversity, one might quote this to emphasize the challenges of unity in diversity.
More from Charles De Gaulle
All quotes →Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.
Charles De GaulleRead
Today we are crushed by the sheer weight of the mechanized forces hurled against us, but we can still look to the future in which even greater mechanized forces will bring us victory. Therein lies the destiny of the world.
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The perfection preached in the gospels never yet built an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning.
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One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day was; one cannot judge life until death.
Charles De GaulleRead
Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [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.]
Charles De GaulleRead
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