Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" Europe has, to put it mildly, been in a poor state since the transition to the 21st century. This is down to national issues, European missteps, and an economic and financial crisis that crashed down on us with enough force to dislodge the essential European idea. "

Related Quotes:

" As a child, I personally didn't really get to know any Jews. I was eight years old when the Night of Broken Glass happened. And Ludwigshafen was purely a workers' city, so we didn't have a very big Jewish community. What I did know about the Jews, I heard from my mother. My mother was very much pro-Jewish. "

Helmut Kohl

Mother

Night

Broken

" Germany is our fatherland; Europe is our future. "

" You didn't just pay lip service to the goal of overcoming the division of Europe and Germany... Rather, you put yourself at the forefront of those who encouraged us on the way to unity. "

Helmut Kohl

Yourself

Service

" Where is Germany now and where does it want to go? It's a question being asked by our partners and allies abroad. We have to return - urgently - to our old dependability. We have to make clear for others what we stand for, where we're headed, and that we know where we belong. "

" Where there is no will, no rules or laws can help. "

" We all need Europe, not just those of us in Europe. And we Germans need Europe more than the others. Germany is the country with the longest border, the most neighbours, and is, by population and economic strength, the number one in Europe. "

Helmut Kohl

Need

Strength

" George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity. "

Helmut Kohl

Most

Road

" If one has no compass, when one doesn't know where one stands and where one wants to go, one can deduce that one has no leadership or interest in shaping events. "

Helmut Kohl

Know

Leadership

" We humans have an abyss inside us. The more power people have, the greater the danger. "

" My parents were Christians - Catholics, but not in the close-minded sense. I remember my mother to be a very pious woman, but she was never against other religions. "

" If a Chancellor is trying to push something through, he must be a man of power. And if he's smart, he knows when the time is ripe. In one case - the euro - I was like a dictator... The euro is a synonym for Europe. "

" I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way. "

" I don't want to give myself grades. I will leave evaluation of my achievements to history. "

" I have every reason, despite the resentment and exasperation, to be proud. I have nothing better to be proud of than being proud of German unity. "

" Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so. "

" Our shared historical experiences led myself and Mitterrand to the decision that we must do everything to prevent further wars. "

" Gorbachev's legacy is that he called time on communism, partially against his will, but in fact, he finished it off. Without violence. Without bloodshed. Beyond that, I am struggling to think of much else in terms of real legacy. "

" There must be no question for us that we in the European Union and the eurozone stand by Greece in solidarity. "

" Nations with a common currency never went to war against each other. A common currency is more than the money you pay with. "

Helmut Kohl

Never

Money

" We Germans have learned from history. We are a peace-loving, freedom-loving people. There is only one place for us in the world: at the side of the free nations. "

" German and European unification are two sides of the same coin. "

" I ask myself where Germany stands today and where it wants to go. "

Helmut Kohl

Myself

Today

" My childhood ended in 1942. I was 12, and for the next three years, I lived under incessant bombings. It was a life of constant fear. "

" It was a stroke of luck that there were about four to six leaders in power in the mid-'80s who really trusted one another and could really make things happen. "

" In a democracy, if you don't get the votes, nothing else is possible, no matter how wonderful your dreams. "

" Isolated decisions, however well-founded they might seem to the individual, and national go-it-alone moves must belong to the past. They should not be the 21st-century method of choice, particularly because the consequences of the European community's actions must often be carried collectively. "

" For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans. "

Helmut Kohl

Clear

Germany

" I like everything that makes you fat. "

" In German history, we don't have many reasons to be proud. "

" The army is under orders to defend every place. "