Helmut Kohl Quotes

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Helmut Kohl

Profession : Politician

Birth : April 3, 1930

The most important rule of the new Europe is: There must never again be violence in Europe.

Helmut Kohl

Peace must be more than the absence of war.

Helmut Kohl

Where there is no will, no rules or laws can help.

Helmut Kohl

If one has no compass, when one doesn't know where one stands and where one wants to go, one can deduce that one has no leadership or interest in shaping events.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

It was a stroke of luck that there were about four to six leaders in power in the mid-'80s who really trusted one another and could really make things happen.

Helmut Kohl

I like everything that makes you fat.

Helmut Kohl

Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way.

Helmut Kohl

For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans.

Helmut Kohl

The army is under orders to defend every place.

Helmut Kohl

The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation.

Helmut Kohl

We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

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'.

Helmut Kohl

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.

Helmut Kohl

I don't want to give myself grades. I will leave evaluation of my achievements to history.

Helmut Kohl