Charles de Gaulle — "The sword is the axis of the world and the spirit its balance."
The sword is the axis of the world and the spirit its balance.
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More from Charles de Gaulle
"The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced of the necessity of force."
"It is impossible to be a good soldier without being a good citizen."
"History is full of men who have tried to change the world, and most of them have failed."
"The best way to get a secret out of a woman is to tell her you'll keep it."
"I have tried to lift France out of the mud."
About Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)
French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces from London during WWII and founded France's Fifth Republic in 1958. Closely associated with Winston Churchill (wartime British ally and rival) and Konrad Adenauer (postwar German Chancellor and reconciliation partner). For an intellectual contrast, see Philippe Pétain, Marshal of France and Vichy collaborationist head of state — Pétain's June 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany was the surrender de Gaulle's London BBC broadcasts publicly rejected — postwar French identity is structured around which one was right, the surrender path or the resistance.