I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself.
Charles De GaulleRead
I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the complexity of national identity and the inability to force change upon a culture due to its inherent nature.
Charles De Gaulle expresses his frustrations with trying to uplift France, highlighting that despite his efforts, the French people are bound to their own cultural tendencies and mistakes. This underscores a philosophical perspective on national identity, suggesting that one cannot fundamentally alter a society's behavior or values against its will, as these traits are ingrained and intrinsic to their collective character.
Themes
FranceIdentityCultureChangeHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about cultural differences during a seminar.
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.
Charles De GaulleRead
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.
Charles De GaulleRead
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
Similar quotes
Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men.
H. P. LovecraftRead
Llonio said life was a net for luck; to Hevydd the Smith life was a forge; and to Dwyvach the Weaver-Woman a loom. They spoke truly, for it is all of these. But you,' Taran said, his eyes meeting the potter's, 'you have shown me life is one thing more. It is clay to be shaped, as raw clay on a potter's wheel.
Lloyd AlexanderRead
Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.
Ferdinand De SaussureRead
I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of Hussein, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers and his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Like almost everyone else in America, I grew up believing the myth of the objective scientist. Fortunately I was raised on the edges of two very distinct cultures, western European and American Indian.
Vine Deloria Jr.Read
Emotion is primarily about nothing and much of it remains about nothing to the end.
George SantayanaRead