German - Statesman | December 23, 1918 - November 10, 2015
The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
Helmut Schmidt
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Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take many small steps.
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I remember the youth movement in 1968. It started on American university campuses as a protest against the Vietnam war, then came to Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin. Within a year, you had an uprising of youth against their elders.
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The critical thing about Western democracy is the fact that you usually have a transition of power without bloodshed. That is an enormous advantage. But still, democracy as we know it was only invented recently in the West, historical speaking. It did not really work in ancient Rome. It functioned for less than 200 years in ancient Athens.
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Particularly since the computerization of the world, the impact of media has grown enormously. The printed books and the printed media have become less important. Why should somebody read Laozi or Confucius if he can Google?
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I will not be remembered in history. I have not been shot. I have not launched any great tragedy or victory. I have not borne any great defeat. It was a very normal - it still is a very normal - human life of a political leader.
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People with visions should go to the doctor.
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Americans tend to feel satisfied within the wide boundaries of that huge, big country.
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In a mass television democracy - which all of us nowadays have - it is impossible to take basic political decisions with long-term consequences without the public knowing it, without the public understanding at least some of it, without the public forming its judgment, heterogeneous as it may be.
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Since I came an adult - for more than 45 years - Marcus Aurelius has been my great idol.
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I was in government for 13 years and in that time only once met the head of the German security services, and that was because he was an old friend. Otherwise, I carefully avoided having anything to do with these people. They are unavoidable but not really necessary.
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The British are very stubborn. The Queen, the Commonwealth, and the special relationship with the U.S. is much more important than Europe.
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