23 Quotes by Gustav Heinemann

Ladies and gentlemen, on the occasion of my election I received many letters from people representing all segments of the population and all professions, especially from the younger generation, linking my inauguration with great - far too great - expectations.

One of our most noble political tasks is to open up trust.

We have to recognize that the freedom of the individual has to be protected not only from the power of the state, but even more so from economic and societal power.

Not less, but more democracy - that is the demand, that is the great goal that we have to prescribe for ourselves, and especially for our youth.

War is not the quintessential emergency in which man has to prove himself, as my generation learned at its school desks in the days of the Kaiser; rather, peace is the emergency in which we all have to prove ourselves.

Beyond peace, there is no longer any existence possible.

Ladies and gentlemen, I take office at a time in which the world is living in extreme contradictions.

The first thing I see is the obligation to serve peace.

The time has come - and must come - for multilateral conversations about a secure peace in all of Europe.