I always thought I was Jeanne d'Arc and Bonaparte. How little one knows oneself.
Charles De GaulleRead
Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Influence comes from many sources, often unnoticed, and shapes who we become.
This quote highlights that our identities and beliefs are constructed from various influences we encounter throughout our lives, much like a lion is formed from the lambs it has consumed. It emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning and the diverse sources of inspiration that shape our perspectives, suggesting that acknowledging these influences can enhance our understanding of ourselves.
Themes
InfluenceIdentityLearningWisdomReading
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
More from Charles De Gaulle
All quotes →Today we are crushed by the sheer weight of the mechanized forces hurled against us, but we can still look to the future in which even greater mechanized forces will bring us victory. Therein lies the destiny of the world.
Charles De GaulleRead
The perfection preached in the gospels never yet built an empire. Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness, and cunning.
Charles De GaulleRead
One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day was; one cannot judge life until death.
Charles De GaulleRead
Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]
Charles De GaulleRead
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless.
Charles De GaulleRead
Similar quotes
The tongue like a sharp knife ... Kills without drawing blood.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom.
Ram DassRead
Well, normally I’m against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things. Too many things can go wrong when they get big.” — Pete Seeger (on how he felt about attending his big 90th birthday bash last year)
Pete SeegerRead
Don't tell me what you believe in. I'll observe how you behave and I will make my own determination.
Alex TrebekRead
One way to look at meditation is as a kind of intrapsychic technology that's been developed over thousands of years by traditions that know a lot about the mind/body connection.
Jon Kabat-ZinnRead
If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead