I have come to the conclusions that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. 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. For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her. In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country of the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate. When I want to know what France thinks, I ask myself. It will not be any European statesman who will unite Europe: Europe will be united by the Chinese. Never relinquish the initiative. Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so. Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. Only peril can bring the French together. One can't impose unity out of the blue on a coutnry that has 265 different kinds of cheese. | 
