Clemenceau Quotes & Sayings

A collective tyrant, spread over the length and breadth of the land, is no more acceptable than a single tyrant ensconced on his throne. — Georges Clemenceau

A mans life is interesting primarily when he has failed. I well know. For its a sign that he tried to surpass himself. — Georges Clemenceau

Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head. — Georges Clemenceau

The law is too important to be left to the lawyers, to paraphrase Georges Clemenceau about war and generals. We laymen know too little about our Constitution and think too superficially about its influence on the qualities of American life. Civic duty requires more. — David K. Shipler

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves he isn't a man of action. — Georges Clemenceau

This time it will be a long one. — Georges Clemenceau

Everything I know I learned after I was thirty. — Georges Clemenceau

War is a series of disasters which result in a winner. — Georges Clemenceau

All that I know I learned after I was thirty. — Georges Clemenceau

My son is 22 years old. If he had not become a Communist at 22, I would have disowned him. If he is still a Communist at 30, I will do it then. — Georges Clemenceau

Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more. — Georges Clemenceau

On September 17, 1914, Erzberger, the well-known German statesman, an eminent member of the Catholic Party, wrote to the Minister of War, General von Falkenhayn, We must not worry about committing an offence against the rights of nations nor about violating the laws of humanity. Such feelings today are of secondary importance? A month later, on October 21, 1914, he wrote in Der Tag, If a way was found of entirely wiping out the whole of London it would be more humane to employ it than to allow the blood of A SINGLE GERMAN SOLDIER to be shed on the battlefield! — Georges Clemenceau

War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory. — Georges Clemenceau

I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war. — Georges Clemenceau

War is too serious to be entrusted to generals — Georges Clemenceau

Americans have no capacity for abstract thought, and make bad coffee. — Georges Clemenceau

America is the only civilization in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization — Georges Clemenceau

War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military. — Georges Clemenceau

Liberty is the right to discipline ourselves in order not to be disciplined by others — Georges Clemenceau

War is too important a matter to be left to the military. — Georges Clemenceau

Generals cannot be trusted with anything, not even with war. — Georges Clemenceau

All the great pleasures of life are silent. — Georges Clemenceau

America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilisation. — Georges Clemenceau

One begins to realize that art ... in setting out to express nature with ever growing accuracy, teaches us to look, to perceive, to feel. The stone itself becomes an organic substance, and one can feel it being transformed as one moment in its life succeeds another. — Georges Clemenceau

War is too important to be left to the generals — Georges Clemenceau

If you don't vote Socialist/Communist before you are twenty, you have no heart - if you do vote Socialist/Communist after you are twenty, you have no head. — Georges Clemenceau

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music. — Georges Clemenceau

In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. — Georges Clemenceau

The Germans may take Paris, but that will not prevent me from going on with the war. We will fight on the Loire, we will fight on the Garronne, we will fight even in the Pyrenees. And if at last we are driven off the Pyrenees, we will continue the war at sea. — Georges Clemenceau

What can a mere French minister do when associated with Lloyd George, who thinks he is Napoleon, and Woodrow Wilson, who thinks he is Jesus Christ? — Georges Clemenceau

General de Gaulle was a thoroughly bad boy. The day he arrived, he thought he was Joan of Arc and the following day he insisted that he was Georges Clemenceau. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he's not a man of action. You must act as you breathe. — Georges Clemenceau

The best time of love, is when one goes up the stairs. — Georges Clemenceau

Oh, to be seventy again! — Georges Clemenceau

Monet's garden must be included with his works, because he combined the magic of an adaptation of nature with the work of a painter of light. An extension of the studio into the openair, with color tones lavishly spread out on all sides to exercise the eye with seductive vibrations, from which a feverishly aroused retina expects unquenchable joy. — Georges Clemenceau

What is said behind my back is said to my ass. — Georges Clemenceau

It is far easier to make war than peace. — Georges Clemenceau

Fourteen Points? The Good Lord only gave us Ten, and do we abide by those? — Georges Clemenceau

War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men. — Georges Clemenceau

My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war. — Georges Clemenceau