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" 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. "

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" 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

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

Helmut Kohl

Myself

Today

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

" 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

" 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. "

" Two decisions have damaged the stability both of the euro and of Europe: the premature admission of Greece to the euro area and the breach and subsequent weakening of the stability and growth pact. "

" 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'. "

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

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

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "

Helmut Kohl

Down

Enough

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

Helmut Kohl

Clear

Germany

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

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

" As a German, in view of the history of World War II and the terrible deeds of the Nazi period, I feel a special obligation to help as much as I can to develop European-Israeli relations and thus contribute to ensuring Israel's future and existence. "

" 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. "

" I like everything that makes you fat. "

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

" 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

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

" Solitary decisions, no matter how well-founded they may appear to individuals, must belong to the past - along with national, unilateralist action. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

Helmut Kohl

Most

Road