Helmut Schmidt Quotes

im Gespräch mit Hans Küng über den Weltethos, 2007, YouTube

Of course, nuclear power has its risks. But there is no power and nothing in the world without risks, not even love.

Had Brandt not taken the lead in ‘normalisation’, other powers would probably have done so. At the same time, West German governmental and, to some degree, public complicity in the East German regime increased alongside engagement with it. This complicity was displayed both by Brandt’s SPD successor, Helmut Schmidt, the Chancellor from 1974 to 1982, and by the latter’s CDU replacement from 1982, Helmut Kohl. Complicity, however, may be an inappropriate as well as harsh judgment, as little would have been achieved by upholding the Hallstein Doctrine and continuing to refuse to enter into dialogue with East Germany. Moreover, the change in policy brought real relief in the form of visiting rights and family reunifications, not to mention buying ‘regime opponents’ out of jail.

The rule of law does not have to win, it does not have to lose, but it has to exist!

“Anyone who votes for Die Grünen will be blaming themselves bitterly later on.” („Wer die Grünen wählt, der wird sich später mal bitterste Vorwürfe machen.“) — 1980, with regard to the formation of the political party Die Grünen

Do we want also to be world champion in moaning?

DIE ZEIT, 19. Oktober 2003, zeit.de

Weggefährten - Erinnerungen und Reflexionen, Siedler-Verlag Berlin 1996, S. 156, ,

I think that the idea that a modern society would be able to establish itself as a multicultural society, with as many cultural groups as possible is absurd. One cannot make out of Germany with at least a thousand years of history since Otto I subsequently make a crucible.

[<nowiki/>Intelligence services] are poor pigs suffering from two mental illnesses: The one disease is because they never get public recognition for what they actually do. This is inevitable, as they have to work in secret. This deformes the soul. The other disease bases on the fact that they have the tendency to believe they understood the national interests of their own country much better than their own government. This latter disease is the reason that I do not trust them.

Science and future, that is a contradiction.

The multicultural society is an illusion of intellectuals.

Today, the most important is to learn to understand other people. And not only their music, but also their philosophy, their attitude, their behavior. Only then will nations can get along with each other.

The snail's pace is the normal pace of any democracy.

It is true that the politician at the moment of his actions or if he explains his actions and justifies them cannot provide at the same time also great philosophy. But if he acts without philosophical and ethical foundations, he is in danger of making mistakes. He is in danger to sink into opportunism. He is even in danger of being a charlatan.