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from Nietzsche: ‘Nothing is worth anything, nothing happens and yet everything occurs, but that is a matter of indifference.’
130 fishermen from the tiny Ile de Sein off the coast of Brittany who having heard de Gaulle speak on the radio on 24 June left for England in five boats.
De Gaulle occasionally liked to quote what he claimed Charles V had said on the subject of English: ‘One speaks French to men, Italian to women, German to horses, Spanish to God but who ever heard of one speaking English?’)24
The terrible tragedy has taught them nothing and changed nothing.16
During the General’s absence overseas, Brossolette had organized the transport to London of a repentant Pétainist, Charles Vallin, who had been a leader of the extreme-right Croix de Feu before the war. The event was given much publicity, and Vallin broadcast on the BBC on 17 September. Brossolette’s idea was that Vallin in London would complement André Philip, demonstrating that support for de Gaulle went across the political spectrum – from the Socialists to the extreme right. But for many anti-Gaullists of the left in London the arrival of a ‘fascist’ stoked all their suspicions of de
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How can one hide the emotion that grips all of us, who are here, chez nous, in Paris which has risen up to defend itself and which has done so by itself. No! We will not hide this sacred and profound emotion. There are moments which go beyond each of our poor lives. Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! [Long pause] – but Paris liberated! Liberated by itself, liberated by its people with the help of the armies of France, with the help and assistance of the whole of France, of that France which fights, of the only France, of the true France, of eternal France.55
1944: ‘All the supporters of the old regime, all the repentant Vichyists, all the scared rich, are prowling around the Head of the Resistance [that is, de Gaulle]. They speak to him of Order with a big “O”, bourgeois capitalist order … We too want order, but with a small “o”, democratic order.’13
‘This is not the domination of a party, nor of a class, but that of a single man. It is not a regime of the people. It is against the nature of man. We will have them on our hands for a hundred years.’49
Vichy is only an unfortunate episode. Vichy has no roots and France will soon have buried it.2
Each was treated to a lecture on de Gaulle’s philosophy of history. Macmillan was told that ‘old Russia will bury the current regime’ and that Soviet expansionism had more to do with the tradition of the tsars than with Communism.43 Dulles, launching into a lecture on the dangers of international Communism, was startled to be told that when the Soviets talked about ‘the Party’ to justify their policies it was ‘a bit like you talking of “the Congress”’.44
1958: ‘The most common error of all statesmen is to believe firmly that there exists at any one moment a solution to every problem. There are in some periods problems to which no solution exists.’27
‘In truth it is miraculous that we have reached this agreement. Think of it: for 130 years “they” have never ceased to be dominated, lied to, despoiled, humiliated. It is a miracle that they are still willing to live with the Europeans.’ Debré pointed out that France had done a lot for the country; de Gaulle grudgingly conceded that this was true.133
Napoleon said that in love the only victory was flight. Where decolonization is concerned also, the only victory is to leave.’134
Nationalism is a form of egotism.2
A people needs to be proud of itself. It needs to have the pride to be able to keep saying: ‘I am the fruit of a history which is that one and no other.’3
‘To be great is to sustain a great quarrel.’
world; France is the light of the world, her genius is to light up the universe.13
De Gaulle endlessly returned in conversation to that primal scene of an incandescent Churchill shouting on 4 June 1944 that in a choice between ‘Europe and the open sea’ he would always choose the latter.
To say that he mixes with the crowd is an understatement: he plunges into it, wallows in it. One can keep track of him not so much because of his height, but because he is the virtual centre of a whirlwind. Disappearing in one spot, he pops up in another for a moment, then is lost to sight again for a long, underwater stretch, only to surface like a diver at the other side of the street … He has been seen to emerge with three buttons missing, uniform torn, hands scratched … but eyes sparkling with pleasure, looking delighted to be alive.4
