The life of the individual is a continuous combat with errors and obstacles, and no victory is more satisfying than the one achieved against opposition.

Nothing is more misleading to the youth of a nation than to state the outcome immediately after the beginning as if nothing could have taken place in between.

The courtesy which most becomes a victor was denied to Germany for a long time.

The great men of a nation reach out to all mankind. They are unifying, not divisive; internationally conciliating and still great nationally.

But just as haste and restlessness are typical of our present-day life, so change also takes place more rapidly than before. This applies to change in the relationships between nations as it does to change within an individual nation.

For the victor peace means the preservation of the position of power which he has secured. For the vanquished it means resigning himself to the position left to him.

As a result of the World War, this old Germany collapsed. It collapsed in its constitution, in its social order, in its economic structure. Its thinking and feeling changed.