"I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way."
"For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans."
"George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity."
"Peace must be more than the absence of war."
"Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so."
"The army is under orders to defend every place."
"The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation."
"You didn't just pay lip service to the goal of overcoming the division of Europe and Germany... Rather, you put yourself at the forefront of those who encouraged us on the way to unity."
"We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people."
"If a Chancellor is trying to push something through, he must be a man of power. And if he's smart, he knows when the time is ripe. In one case - the euro - I was like a dictator... The euro is a synonym for Europe."
"Political life is like this - elections go back and forth. Representative democracy can only be successful if one sits down and says, 'That's it. I will connect myself,' - as I did - 'connect my existence to a political project.' Then you automatically have in your party a lot of people who say, 'If that fails, so do I'."
"My childhood ended in 1942. I was 12, and for the next three years, I lived under incessant bombings. It was a life of constant fear."
"I don't want to give myself grades. I will leave evaluation of my achievements to history."
"I experienced Nazism as a child. Like many of my generation, I was motivated by the desire to prevent another war at any price."
"People in Tel Aviv can not imagine, but in 1990, here in Leipzig or Dresden, whoever wanted to buy a car had to wait 14 years. The East Germans worked like people in the West, but the fruits of their labor were harvested by a criminal regime."
"The most important rule of the new Europe is: There must never again be violence in Europe."
"Gorbachev's legacy is that he called time on communism, partially against his will, but in fact, he finished it off. Without violence. Without bloodshed. Beyond that, I am struggling to think of much else in terms of real legacy."
"Europe has, to put it mildly, been in a poor state since the transition to the 21st century. This is down to national issues, European missteps, and an economic and financial crisis that crashed down on us with enough force to dislodge the essential European idea."
"Two decisions have damaged the stability both of the euro and of Europe: the premature admission of Greece to the euro area and the breach and subsequent weakening of the stability and growth pact."
"Where there is no will, no rules or laws can help."
"We all need Europe, not just those of us in Europe. And we Germans need Europe more than the others. Germany is the country with the longest border, the most neighbours, and is, by population and economic strength, the number one in Europe."
"I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost, and by seven to three."
"When people come to write about my period of office, I would be very happy if they say that I made a contribution to finding the happy medium again for the Germans."
"Nations with a common currency never went to war against each other. A common currency is more than the money you pay with."
"Germany is our fatherland; Europe is our future."
