Top 15 Léon Gambetta Quotes

As time goes on, the Republic, with its tendency to decentralisation, and its democratic prejudices pushed to extremes, will see its strength and its resources in soldiers melt away. Equality, for the army, means indiscipline and lack of cohesion; liberty means criticism pushed to the point of denigration and calumny against leaders...; fraternity is cosmopolitanism, humanitarianism, international stupidity; all these will doom us and, after a few years, they will throw us, an easy prey, under the feet of the Teutons, united with the Latins from across the Alps... We are slipping on to the slope of the South American republics... And what becomes of France in all this? That is the least concern of this degenerate race.

I found myself unable to tolerate such a lowering of republican France before Europe and I intervened. In a few minutes I made them ratify a firm policy, one of national pride.

I am only saddened by the help foreigners obtain from my electoral opponents at home. It is very sad to see the extreme (radical) republican party losing even the notion of patriotism.

Those who imagine that it is the duty, or that it lies within the power, of the Government to secure the happiness of all, are pursuing a mirage. Strictly speaking, there is only one thing that a Government owes to all, and that is, justice. Every man being his own master, it rests with him to make himself happy or unhappy by using his freedom to good or bad purpose. The State does no more than guarantee an equality of rights to everyone, be he rich or poor, high or low. What we want is not an aristocratic or a middle-class or a proletarian Republic, but a national Republic.

I must confess I am driven to distraction by our everlasting squabbles over personal matters, the perpetual clash of private interests. How can I do anything for my country's good when my hands are tied like this? What a time for petty wrangling! We are in a state of utter chaos; everything is at sixes and sevens All this time, Germany is growing stronger and Bismarck has the whip-hand. You will notice, too, that every time he cracks his whip it is just after some piece of diplomatic bungling on our part. We are always at the mercy of some "incident." What would become of us if we had not learnt to dodge these blows, if we were as innocent as when we fell into the trap of the forged telegram from Ems?

Yes, everything for the country, we must love it absolutely and be ready to sacrifice everything for it, down to our most private preferences. And this is a little more difficult than offering one's carcass or fortune. I prize nothing more than that beautiful title: Patriot before all else.

What, what, I ask you, would be the value in these formidable elections of an exclusively republican policy, excessively ardent, incisive in its programme, alarming in its doctrines, compromising in its representatives? It would be swept away like straw before the wind, and all we should have left to console us for the blindness of the multitudes would be sterile oratory.

It is well to weigh our words carefully when we speak of France's heritage. France, as you say with justice, will be all the more attractive when her destinies are controlled by all her citizens, and not swayed by the caprice of one. Yes, France in all her glory, France, under the auspices of the Republic, once more at the head of civilisation, offering to the world her legions of artists and workmen, of peasants, traders and professional men—yes, it is worth while to belong to such a France as that, and there is no man who would not then be proud to say, in his turn, "I am a French citizen!" But there is another France that I cherish no less, another France just as dear to me—the France that has been vanquished, overwhelmed, humbled in the dust. Yes, I adore that France as a mother; it is to that France that we must sacrifice our lives, our love of self, our personal enjoyment; it is of that France that we must say, "Where France is, there is our country!"

Ah, they never trafficked in their blood, those two beloved provinces: it was their children whose breasts were the first to be pierced! Noble provinces, always heart and soul for France, always looking towards her flag.—"Yes, we suffer," they said, "but it is for our country's sake that we suffer, the very life-blood of the nation courses through our veins! ..." Gentlemen, I cannot go on, I cannot... It is... those provinces...

Yes, I foresee...I announce the arrival and the presence on the political scene of a new social class which has been active in the affairs of the country for nearly eighteen months, and which is certainly far from inferior to its predecessors... What do you expect? There are in France some social classes which have found it difficult for forty-five years to face up not only to the French revolution, but also to its consequences... And it is in this lack of decision and courage of a notable part of the French bourgeoisie that I find the origin and explanation of all our misfortunes, our shortcomings, of all that is still uncertain, vague and unhealthy in today's politics. One asks oneself, in all conscience, how these men can close their eyes to a spectacle that ought to be obvious to them. Have they not since the fall of the Empire witnessed the arrival of a new generation, intelligent, fit to take part in government, anxious for all its right? ... Is this not a typical warning that the country, after having tried many forms of government, wants at last to call on another social class, to try the republican way?

Go into your places of worship, believe, affirm, pray. What I demand is liberty, an equal liberty for you and for me, for my philosophy and for your religious beliefs. We are not the foes of religion; we want to see it set on a firm basis, free and inviolable.

France has seen a portion of her inheritance wrested from her; she must recover her loss. That is the work we have to do: let us think of it always, but speak of it—never!

The Republic should not mean the privileged rule of a few; it should be a tool that all may handle... Let us shelve the discussion of theories and keep for the time being to questions of conduct, let us tend the Republic with all possible care while it is still in the bud, let us watch over the young tree with loving devotion.

Wherever there is a French mother, she should bring up her children to show a religious love for France. If there is anything to console us amid the sorrow and shame of our bereaved country, it is the thought that the mothers and the patriots of France will supply her future champions and avengers. But before we think of the future we must make sure of the present, and establish once and for all a Government founded on justice and equality, not an envious and grudging equality, but that equality of rights and duties which recognises no other distinctions between man and man than those arising from character, intelligence and energy in the battle of life.

The unity that was attained on July 14, 1789, must be restored. Every effort has been made to sow divisions between peasant and artisan, between artisan and bourgeois; these elements must once more be welded together. Let your fields, your religious festivals, your meetings, your markets, your fairs, serve as opportunities for political discussion and education.