Helmut Schmidt Quotes

Weggefährten - Erinnerungen und Reflexionen, Siedler-Verlag Berlin 1996, S. 54, ,

In the basic questions, one have to be naive. And I think that the problems of the world and of humanity cannot be solved without idealism. However, I also believe that one should be realistic and pragmatic at the same time.

Do we want also to be world champion in moaning?

DIE ZEIT, 19. Oktober 2003, zeit.de

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

The multicultural society is an illusion of intellectuals.

What troubles me is that we will see in Germany no approximation of the East German income to the West German income anymore, because productivity stays so far behind.

It is an irony of history that the public sector union, my union, in which I am a member for over 50 years, that imagines that the public service should be the pacemaker in the wage increase. One must be crazy.

With a democratic society, the concept of multiculturalism is difficult to reconcile. Maybe in a very long term. But if you ask, where multicultural societies have so far worked, you can get very quickly to the conclusion that they only work there peacefully where there is a strong authoritarian state there. So, it was a mistake that we picked up at the beginning of the 60's guest workers from foreign cultures into the country. There is still no multicultural society [in the USA] either, but perhaps one day there will be. Singapore is a good example, but the cultures living there all speak English and the political system is based on authority.

If we continue on for decades as before, then I have to be pessimistic about our country.

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

Nothing is more important than pastoral care for people in need. [...] For me, nothing is less important than theology.