"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."

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“It seems to me that the German people can - pointedly - tolerate 5 percent price increase better than 5 percent unemployment.”

“Helmut Schmidt continues to speak of a sense of duty, predictability, feasibility, firmness These are secondary virtues. Simply put precise:.. So you can also run a concentration camp with them.”