Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Everyone wants a more simple tax system. But if this means that certain tax breaks have to be cut, people are no longer so enthusiastic.

One can remain more sure-footed by taking small steps, but perhaps achieve greater speed by taking bigger steps. Of course, one also runs the risk of setting out in a completely erroneous direction. Surely the important thing isn't the length of our steps, but that the objective is clear.

I feel sorry sometimes for these sportsmen and women who put in just as much effort as the footballers. For example, athletes train at least as hard as footballers but have to be happy if they can earn enough to finance a decent education.

The land of unlimited opportunity was for me, for a long time, impossible to reach. The wall, barbed wire and the order to shoot at those who tried to leave limited my access to the free world.

Ladies, it is not your education, status or personality that has brought you here but the elegance of God which was still and still working upon you.

I want us to be able to preserve our level of prosperity. We must constantly remind ourselves that Germany has been eating into its capital. It is only through successful management that we can once again secure our foundation of prosperity and social security.