Wilhelm II Quotes

Why are so many of our young men led astray? Why do so many reformers of the world make their appearance with their incoherent, confused theories? Why is it that there is always so much grumbling at our Government, and why are we so often referred to foreign countries for an example? Because young men do not know how our conditions have developed, and further, that they are but the outcome of the era of the French Revolution.

Why did the German Empire sink into decay? Because the old Empire was not founded on a strictly national basis. The idea of universal rule that underlay the Holy Roman Empire precluded a development on national German lines.

All the works of man perish and decay.

The cultivation of ideals is the greatest work of civilization.

Among the many eminent qualities which the Americans possess, it is, above all, their spirit of enterprise, their sense of order, and their inventive capacity, which attract the attention of the whole world.

Germany possesses an army commensurate with her needs, and if Great Britain has a navy corresponding to her requirements, Europe in general cannot fail to regard it as a most important factor for the maintenance of peace.

The British troops have filled me with the greatest admiration. If the possibility of a volunteer army is ever doubted, I shall be able to give such an army a testimony of efficiency.

The same blood runs in English and German veins. I am a friend of England. The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my own land; but it is a minority of the best elements.

It is the power of tradition which on the field of battle as well as in peace makes men's heart beat higher for king and country, and inspires them to brave deeds.

I am well aware of the fact that by the public at large, and particularly in foreign countries, I am represented as entertaining a wanton and ambitious craving for war. May God keep me from such criminal folly.

I am opposed to war; but war can only be avoided by exerting to the utmost the defensive forces of the State.

May we always be mindful that it is our duty to protect religion which should be preserved for the nation, and to uphold morals and order.

My Catholic subjects can rely on my Imperial protection, wherever and whenever they may stand in need of it.

Every Catholic ought to know that I honour his religion and that he will never be prevented in his exercise of it if he respects the beliefs of those who profess other faiths.

Religion has never risen from science: it is an overflowing of the heart of man in his relations with God.