“Treaties you see are like girls and roses; they last while they last.”

“Nothing builds authority up like silence, splendor of the strong and shelter of the weak.”

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”

“Have you ever seen a dictator on a run-off ballot? [Responding to the charges of a dictatorial bent, after being forced into a run-off against the socialist François Mitterrand in the 1965 presidential elections]”

“The cemeteries are full of indispensable men.”

“France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war”

“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.”