Georges Clemenceau Quotes

“In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.”

— 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

“It is far easier to make war than peace.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“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

“My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“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

“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

“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

“All the great pleasures of life are silent.”

— 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

“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

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

“What is said behind my back is said to my ass.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“Americans have no capacity for abstract thought, and make bad coffee.”

— 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 best time of love, is when one goes up the stairs.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“War is too important a matter to be left to the military.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“War is a series of disasters which result in a winner.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“Il est plus facile de faire la guerre que la paix. It is far easier to make war than to make peace.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“Liberty is the right to discipline ourselves in order not to be disciplined by others”

— Georges Clemenceau

War is too serious to be entrusted to generals

— Georges Clemenceau

“Generals cannot be trusted with anything, not even with war.”

— 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

“This time it will be a long one.”

— Georges Clemenceau

“When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves he isn't a man of action.”

— 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

“Oh, to be seventy again!”

— Georges Clemenceau