Konrad Adenauer Quotes

A reformation of relations between the Soviet people and the German people is not possible along the lines pursued by the authorities of the Soviet zone of Germany. The Germans in that zone have come to hate and despise those who violate them in so inhuman a manner. And they must be having similar feelings towards those who support that system. The closing of the border is an unprecedented admission of bankruptcy. It shows that the people who are compelled to live in that part of Germany can be prevented only by the use of physical force from leaving that paradise of workers and farmers. There is but one possibility of placing relations between the Soviet and German peoples on a new foundation: the German people must be given back the right, denied to no people on earth, to form, through a free and uninfluenced expression of their will, a government which would then be truly entitled to speak, act and decide on behalf of the whole German nation.

The Federal Government and with it all Germans in the Federal Republic of Germany feel in these days particularly close to the Germans in the Soviet-occupied zone. We are all aware of the obligation that we have explicitly taken upon us when adopting our Basic Law. We stated at the time that we acted also on behalf of those Germans to whom participation was denied. To the entire German people on both sides of the zonal border we addressed our appeal to complete in free self-determination the unity and freedom of Germany. Our fellow-citizens in the Soviet-occupied zone should even in these critical days not doubt for a moment that we shall never slacken in striving passionately for the attainment of this great objective.

One does not throw out dirty water as long as one doesn't have any clean water.

Unless we act, events that we Europeans will be unable to influence will overtake us. I believe we Europeans feel far too safe. Europe’s political and economic leadership in the world, which was still unchallenged at the beginning of the century, has long since ceased to exist. Will the dominant cultural influence of Europe be maintained? I think not, unless we defend it and adjust ourselves to new conditions; history has shown that civilisations are all too perishable.

I wish that an English statesman might once have spoken of us as Western Europeans.

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.

What do I care about my nonsense from yesterday?

History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.

An unsteady nation has no friends. The German people seriously worry me. The only thing I can say for them is that they have lived through too much. They have not found peace of mind and stability since the war of 1914-18.

The Soviet Government and the Soviet people should not lend themselves to co-operating in the conversion into a concentration camp of part of a large neighbouring country against the will of its inhabitants.

Ich bin wie ich bin. Die einen kennen mich, die anderen können mich.

We will never forget. If it takes us five or ten or twenty years, we will never rest until we get our revenge.

"Wir leben alle unter dem gleichen Himmel, aber wir haben nicht alle den gleichen Horizont." "We all live under the same sky, but we don't have the same horizon"

Wir leben alle unter dem gleichen Himmel, aber wir haben nicht alle den gleichen Horizont.

I reserve the right to be smarter today than I was yesterday.