People on the left rarely have big plans. They demagogy and use the movements of opinion. The left pulls the top of society down, by ideal of egalitarianism. That's how we ended up in the abyss in 1940 ... Socialists are eternal utopians, out of phase, stateless mental. They always waste most of the credits. We have never seen them spend the credits effectively ... I do not like socialists because they are not socialists ... because they are incapable, they are dangerous. There are all kinds of inspection bodies, which I wonder what they inspect. If we did a census of all public servants, service by service, I am sure that we would find many who could not say what they are used for. There are too many benefits in the public service, too many honors, too many people. [In France] social relations remain marked by mistrust and bitterness (...) everyone feels what he misses rather than appreciates what he has. Charles de Gaulle, Memories of Hope, 1970