The German public knows me quite well. I have been in their kitchens and living rooms for years. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
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. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
Democracy is not the end point of mankind. There may be developments in many different directions in the coming centuries. Democracy has only existed for about 200 years. It started out with the American Declaration of Independence. The Americans got their ideas from the Europeans, in the main from the French, the Dutch and the British. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
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? Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
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. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
Since I came an adult – for more than 45 years – Marcus Aurelius has been my great idol. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
Americans tend to feel satisfied within the wide boundaries of that huge, big country. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
Farmers are always conservative. They stick to what they have learned from their fathers and from their grandfathers. This is the same all over the globe. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
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. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
Germany is one of the medium powers of the world. It is a non-nuclear power. It is in a lower class than the United States, the Soviet Union, France, the United Kingdom and others. Helmut Schmidt Read Quote
