Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" 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. "

Helmut Kohl

Think

Time

I Am

Related Quotes:

" Peace must be more than the absence of war. "

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

" The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation. "

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

" I like everything that makes you fat. "

" 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. "

" I experienced Nazism as a child. Like many of my generation, I was motivated by the desire to prevent another war at any price. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" People in Tel Aviv can not imagine, but in 1990, here in Leipzig or Dresden, whoever wanted to buy a car had to wait 14 years. The East Germans worked like people in the West, but the fruits of their labor were harvested by a criminal regime. "

Helmut Kohl

Car

Labor

" I have made a very good living, for more than 30 years, by being underestimated. "

Helmut Kohl

Than

Years

" 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

" 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. "

" When people come to write about my period of office, I would be very happy if they say that I made a contribution to finding the happy medium again for the Germans. "

" We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people. "

" When I was elected to head the German government, I was fortunate enough to find a partner in Francois Mitterrand. "

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

" The most important rule of the new Europe is: There must never again be violence in Europe. "

" 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

" 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. "

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

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

Helmut Kohl

Most

Road

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost, and by seven to three. "

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

" Political life is like this - elections go back and forth. Representative democracy can only be successful if one sits down and says, 'That's it. I will connect myself,' - as I did - 'connect my existence to a political project.' Then you automatically have in your party a lot of people who say, 'If that fails, so do I'. "

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