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

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

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.

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

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

I doubt that the evil spirits of the past, under which we in Europe have already suffered more than enough this century, have been banished for ever.

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