Madame Nhu Quotes

Trần Lệ Xuân , more popularly known in English as Madame Nhu, was the de facto First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, who was the brother and chief advisor to President Ngô Đình Diệm. As Diệm was a lifelong bachelor and because she and her family lived in Independence Palace together with him, she was considered to be the first lady.

Known for her harsh and incendiary comments that denounced anti-government protests by some Buddhist sects and the strong U.S. influence and presence in the country, she had to live in exile in France after her husband and her brother-in-law, Diệm, were assassinated in 1963. Wikipedia  

✵ 22. August 1924 – 24. April 2011
Madame Nhu photo
Madame Nhu: 8   quotes 2   likes

Famous Madame Nhu Quotes

“I believe all the devils in hell are against us but we will triumph eventually because we have the Devil on our side.”

In response to Diệm and Nhu, assassination in a coup d’état led by General Dương Văn Minh (Armed Forces Council) http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2013/10/05/

“Any crime committed against the Ngo family cannot be hidden under the label of suicide. I affirm that suicide has always been considered incompatible with our religion.”

Addressing the claim that President Ngo Dinh Diem and her husband Ngo Dinh Nhu committed suicide http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/vietnam-78-106-madame-nhu-press-conference (3 November 1963)

“If one has no courage to denounce, if one bows to madness and stupidity, how can one ever hope to cope with the other wrongs of humanity exploited in the same fashion by Communists?”

"Letters to the Times: Mrs. Nhu Defends Stand", The New York Times, 14 August 1963. Referring to the self-immolation of Buddhist monks protesting government actions.

“Let them burn and we shall clap our hands.”

[Our Vietnam: the war, 1954–1975, Langguth, A. J., 2000] p.216. Referring to the immolation of Buddhist monks including Thích Quảng Đức in 1963.

“Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need any enemies.”

Jones (2003) Death of a Generation p.407. November 2nd, 1963, following the assassination of her husband and brother-in-law.

“I may shock some by saying 'I would beat such provocateurs ten times more if they wore monks robes,' and 'I would clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show, for one can not be responsible for the madness of others.”

Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War. pp.292-293
"Letters to the Times: Mrs. Nhu Defends Stand", The New York Times, 14 August 1963. Referring to the self-immolation of Buddhist monks protesting government actions.

Similar authors

Eleanor Roosevelt photo
Eleanor Roosevelt 148
American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady…
Nelson Mandela photo
Nelson Mandela 143
President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
Nadine Gordimer photo
Nadine Gordimer 57
South african Nobel-winning writer
Desmond Tutu photo
Desmond Tutu 85
South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Priz…
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk photo
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 9
First Czechoslovak president
Bertrand Russell photo
Bertrand Russell 562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi…
Oriana Fallaci photo
Oriana Fallaci 19
Italian writer
Jawaharlal Nehru photo
Jawaharlal Nehru 110
Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister …
Golda Meir photo
Golda Meir 38
former prime minister of Israel
W.B. Yeats photo
W.B. Yeats 255
Irish poet and playwright