Léon Gambetta Quotes (1838-1882)

“Gambetta, like Danton, was first and foremost the man of energy, the eloquent tribune who kindled the spirit of national resistance, and supplied an indispensable moral driving force... [T]here was no one else at the time who could have done it as well, no one who had the confidence, the energy, and the prestige necessary to carry the country with him as did Gambetta. Badly, indeed, he did conduct the war in many ways... But, despite all this, and despite its apparent fruitlessness, Gambetta's work had a real significance; for, in so far as it was conducted well, it revealed new possibilities, and it had a genuine moral value.”

“He was a foreigner, who relied greatly on the sonorousness of his voice, from which, however, he obtained striking effects. Not many ideas. He had conducted the war—both well and badly, but more badly than well—but he certainly did conduct it, and as well as he could. And he had profoundly generous impulses—his philosophy was beautiful and noble. I liked Gambetta, and respected him. He didn't know very well where he was going, but he went with ardour.”

“[Gambetta is] one of the few orators of our time, perhaps the only one, who could make an audience experience that divine shudder which tightens the throat and makes one's hair stand on end.”

“Gambetta was dearly loved in his lifetime, and is still loved no less dearly. His name is a part of France's religion: what more glorious dream could a great soul cherish? In the blaze of that sunlight, his faults, his mistakes, his inconsistencies disappear from view. France no longer sees aught but this—that when everything had crashed into ruin, when all seemed lost, there arose one man who bore up the flag, with indomitable faith, to the end. She loves him vanquished no less than if he had been victorious. Vanquished, do I say? Nay, he is victorious. Yes, he is victorious to-day by our side. It is because he held out in 1870 that France did not lose the world's esteem or her own self-respect, that she kept her rank in the human family, that she raised herself and fulfilled the destiny that he had planned.”

“I cannot but remember that we are all saddened to-night by the death of a great man—the greatest of all Frenchmen of his time... All, I think, of whatever party, have admired the magnitude of his courage, his tremendous energy, his splendid oratory, and, those who knew him in private, his unmatched gaiety and sparkling wit. These have made him, I repeat, the first Frenchman of his day.”

“W. E. G. speaking of Gambetta said he belonged to that class of Liberals whose creed had nothing whatever to do with liberty, but only consisted of a war ag. everything that existed: the older and better established, the greater reason for its being uprooted.”

“Gambetta was autoritaire; I do not feel as if he were a true liberal in the old and best sense. I cannot forget how hostile he was to the movement for freedom in the Balkans.”

“M. Gambetta, to whom I am giving this letter for you, is what we call in France a Republican. But he has more intellect and sound sense and true wisdom than many of the most enlightened Conservatives, and I only wish that most of the party leaders had as much. No one knows the inside of Paris better than he, or could give you fresher and more accurate news of it.”