CLEMENCEAU'S SAYINGS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VIII, Issue 328, 6 March 1930, Page 1

CLEMENCEAU'S SAYINGS.

FRENCH STATESMAN’S WIT. Sime of Clemenceau’s epigrams art miniature biographies. “ Poincare," he said, “ knows everything, but understands nothing. Briand knows nothing, but understands everything.” Of Bolshevism he said: “ All opinions are defensible. All doctrines are respectab.e. But Bolshevism is neither a doctrine nor an opinion.” On his eighty-sixth anniversary they asked him to pose for his photograph. “No gestures 1” he said. “ I count three and then I go.” At a meeting of the War Council at Versailles he walked with Sir 11. Wilson down the room to show how young he was. He was a wit, hut he was also a man of action. “ Action,” he wrote, “is the principle. Action is the means. Action is the aim.” He lived an ascetic life. He spent twenty francs (about 3s 4d) a day on his food. His diet was onion soup and hard-boiled eggs. He did not smoke, and he drank nothing but cold

water. He rose regularly at 3 o’clock in the morning. Life dealt hardly with him, but he was defiant. “My wife was unfaithful to me,” he said; “my children have left me; my friends have deserted me. But I have still my teeth ! ” He lived alone in a small house with one servant, never entertaining, never dining out, going to bed early, and rising early. “ I prefer to be alone,” he said; “when I am by myself I can scold my servant."