Angela Merkel famous quotes

Budget consolidation and economic growth are two sides of the same coin.
-- Angela Merkel

#Two Sides #Growth #Coins

Europe can only hold together and stand together, which is very important in times of migration challenges, terrorism challenges, if each country takes responsibility for itself.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Responsibility #Europe

I will not let anyone tell me we must spend more money. This crisis did not come about because we issued too little money but because we created economic growth with too much money and it was not sustainable growth.
-- Angela Merkel

#Growth #Littles #Too Much

The willingness to learn new skills is very high.
-- Angela Merkel

#Education #Skills #Willingness To Learn

When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.
-- Angela Merkel

#Dignity #Compromise #Human Dignity

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.
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #Personality #Elegance

I am not here for women only, but also for women.
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #Men Women

Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic, but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe.
-- Angela Merkel

#War #Two #Europe

It seems to me that the fact that I am a woman is a bigger issue than the fact that I'm from the East. For me it isn't really important. I've only ever known myself as a woman.
-- Angela Merkel

#Inspirational #Issues #Important

Neither the chains of dictatorship nor the fetters of oppression can keep down the forces of freedom for long.
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #Long #Empowering

I might bend, but I will NEVER break because it's in my nature as a strong woman.
-- Angela Merkel

#Strong Women #Might #Break

Freedom is the very essence of our economy and society. Without freedom the human mind is prevented from unleashing its creative force. But what is also clear is that this freedom does not stand alone. It is freedom in responsibility and freedom to exercise responsibility.
-- Angela Merkel

#Responsibility #Exercise #Essence

A good compromise is one where everybody makes a contribution.
-- Angela Merkel

#Inspiring #Compromise #Contribution

I never underestimated myself. And I never saw anything wrong with ambition.
-- Angela Merkel

#Badass #Ambition #Saws

The markets want to force us to do certain things. That we won't do. Politicians have to make sure that we're unassailable, that we can make policy for the people.
-- Angela Merkel

#People #Want #Politician

The people in East Germany have lived through so many changes in the last 15 years like never before in the country, and they did this often with great enthusiasm. But in the West we also have a high degree of transformations.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Years #People

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
-- Angela Merkel

#Way

If we remind ourselves of the fact that every fifth American today rightly points and perhaps also with a certain degree of pride to his German ancestry or her German ancestry, we can safely say that we, indeed, share common roots.
-- Angela Merkel

#Pride #Roots #Degrees

It certainly is dangerous that there are only a few clubs left in Europe that can afford to pay millions. At the end of the day however, the spectators decide the rates of pay - by watching the games and consuming the goods and services advertised on sports TV programmes.
-- Angela Merkel

#Sports #Europe #Games

I am not an expert in this field but I do try to keep up to date with the Bundesliga. And I do follow World Cups and European Championships more closely.
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Trying #Fields

I said, yet again, for Germany, Europe is not only indispensable, it is part and parcel of our identity. We've always said German unity, European unity and integration, that's two parts of one and the same coin. But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness.
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Two #Unity

Eurobonds are absolutely wrong. In order to bring about common interest rates, you need similar competitiveness levels, similar budget situations. You don't get them by collectivizing debts.
-- Angela Merkel

#Order #Needs #Debt

...climate change is accelerating. It threatens our well being, our security, and our economic development. It will lead to uncontrollable risks and dramatic damage if we do not take resolute countermeasures.
-- Angela Merkel

#Risk #Development #Damage

The problem is, of course, that these interest groups are all asking for changes, but their enthusiasm for change rapidly disappears when it affects the core of their own interests.
-- Angela Merkel

#Groups #Asking #Enthusiasm

Personally, I think that for example the chemical directive in its present form does too much damage to the chemical industry - especially the medium sized businesses - and will hurt our worldwide competitiveness.
-- Angela Merkel

#Hurt #Thinking #Too Much

To be serious, if we were only interested in earning big money then a politician would have to go and work in industry.
-- Angela Merkel

#Jobs #Earning #Serious

On the one hand, the financial projection is on the agenda - we will see if this problem can be resolved or not. I think it is a right idea to stage a special summit, which would deal with the question of priorities of European politics.
-- Angela Merkel

#Thinking #Ideas #Hands

I still believe in the old fashioned ways of showing a woman Respect and Honor!!
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #Believe #Honor

Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century.
-- Angela Merkel

#Challenges #Humanity #Twenties

Look forward to the future and look forward to the unknown. Nothing stays the same and people change. One day that hurt and pain will be a distant memory.
-- Angela Merkel

#Hurt #Pain #Memories

Don't get bogged down by life and other people's problems or hang ups.
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #People #Problem

We need trust among allies and partners. Such trust now has to be built anew.
-- Angela Merkel

#Nsa #Allies #Needs

The Freedom Bell in Berlin is, like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a symbol which reminds us that freedom does not come about of itself. It must be struggled for and then defended anew every day of our lives.
-- Angela Merkel

#Philadelphia #Liberty #Doe

History has often showed us the strength of the forces that are unleashed by the yearning for freedom. It moved people to overcome their fears and openly confront dictators such as in East Germany and Eastern Europe about 22 years ago. [...] The yearning for freedom cannot be contained by walls for long. It was this yearning that brought down the Iron Curtain that divided Germany and Europe, and indeed the world, into two blocs.
-- Angela Merkel

#Wall #Years #Europe

We can't constantly explain to our voters that taxpayers have to be on the hook for certain risks, rather than those who make a lot of money taking those risks.
-- Angela Merkel

#Money #Responsibility #Risk

And I think that a woman as chancellor can also serve as a good example,.
-- Angela Merkel

#Thinking #Example

The digital world creates situation where there are no secrets anymore.
-- Angela Merkel

#Secret #World #Digital

Let me say this on a personal note. Without the United States of America, I would in all probably not be able to stand here before you today.
-- Angela Merkel

#America #United States #Able

If you want to be constructive in politics, the less you look back, the better. If you do look back, then it can only be to learn for yourself through the events that have taken place.
-- Angela Merkel

#Taken #Learning #Events

The substance of the constitution is preserved. That is a fact.
-- Angela Merkel

#Substance #Facts #Constitution

Spying among friends is never acceptable.
-- Angela Merkel

It is a fact that, if I single out Germany, our rate of growth is too low and we have very high unemployment.
-- Angela Merkel

#Growth #Germany #Unemployment

Freedom does not mean being free of something, but to be free to do something.
-- Angela Merkel

#Mean #Being Free #Doe

I am thankful for the way I was raised, to be positive. Even when times have gotten rough I have always tried to look on the bright side. Even when I was put down, yelled at and made feel insignificant, I still thought things were alright. I did realize when enough is enough.
-- Angela Merkel

#Women #Being Positive #Looks

Just because times change and alot of people think that dating multiple people is the thing these days, it just isn't a solid foundation at all in matters of the heart. I still believe in marriages that have a physically powerful foundation.
-- Angela Merkel

#Powerful #Women #Believe

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.
-- Angela Merkel

#Money #Mean #Cutting

I felt really sorry for Oliver Kahn. Up to that point he had made lots of saves for the German team. Of course he could have caught the ball but it just happened. It was bad luck. In that situation, you need to be very strong psychologically to carry on.
-- Angela Merkel

#Strong #Sorry #Team

We will take care of every single person in our society. That is our task,
-- Angela Merkel

#Tasks #Care #Our Society

In the German football team players from different clubs need to get on with each other both on and off the pitch. In the grand coalition Christian Democrats and Social Democrats sit in the same boat and need to pull in the same direction.
-- Angela Merkel

#Christian #Football #Team

This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed. Utterly failed.
-- Angela Merkel

#Sides #Multicultural #Approach

Today's Russia is not to be compared with the Soviet Union of back then.
-- Angela Merkel

#Russia #Unions #Today

From this experience we have learned that in a big party it is important to have the necessary and often controversial discussions on policy issues such as the health system while in opposition.
-- Angela Merkel

#Party #Issues #Important

I think that the EU with the Lisbon agenda has put the right emphasis on growth and employment.
-- Angela Merkel

#Thinking #Growth #Employment

It is nonsense to say that Germans are unable to change.
-- Angela Merkel

#Nonsense

It will not be possible to solve the current crisis with euro bonds.
-- Angela Merkel

#Currents #Crisis #Solve

At this time - we're in a dramatic crisis - euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer. They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Debt #Answers

My life changed completely in 1989 with the fall of the wall,
-- Angela Merkel

#Wall #Life Changing #Fall

The euro is our common fate, and Europe is our common future.
-- Angela Merkel

#Fate #Europe #Common

Whoever decides to dedicate their life to politics knows that earning money isn't the top priority.
-- Angela Merkel

#Money #Uprising #Priorities

At the beginning of the 60's our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country. We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone.' But this isn't reality.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Reality #Germany

I don't carry any early childhood trauma around with me, if that's what you're hinting at. The story of the bicycles - and there were three of them which were stolen from me - I've dealt with it well.
-- Angela Merkel

#Childhood #Three #Stories

Above all it is important to point out that we can only maintain our prosperity in Europe if we belong to the most innovative regions in the world.
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Important #World

Politicians have to be committed to people in equal measures.
-- Angela Merkel

#People #Politician #Equal

If Europe today accounts for just over 7 per cent of the world’s population, produces around 25 per cent of global GDP and has to finance 50 per cent of global social spending, then it’s obvious that it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life,
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Gdp #Population

As politicians we have to react to the fact that many people do not feel that they can relate to the EU.
-- Angela Merkel

#People #Facts #Politician

This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed,
-- Angela Merkel

#Multicultural #Approach

Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together.
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Working Together #Succeed

Herr Schroder has conducted two electoral campaigns, and he is doing it again now, by not telling people what is really necessary. He keeps avoiding the difficult and uncomfortable issues, those that imply changes and therefore provoke discussions.
-- Angela Merkel

#Issues #Two #People

For a few years, more people have been leaving our country than entering it. Wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Years #Umpires

So Europe needs to be competitive and we also need to be competitive if we wish to remain an interesting economic partner for the United States. This has to be done on the basis of strength, of competitiveness.
-- Angela Merkel

#Europe #Interesting #Wish

That makes me think of the 2002 World Cup Final above all else. Nobody thought at the time that our team would get through to the Final against Brazil. We should remember that this summer.
-- Angela Merkel

#Summer #Team #Thinking

That is why everyone in politics, and we do it, must make sure that they do not depend on one single interest group. A good compromise is one where everybody makes a contribution.
-- Angela Merkel

#Groups #Compromise #Interest

We must never forget our responsibilities as politicians to our country and its citizens. We must always remain humble before our people.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Humble #Responsibility

I don't believe you are simply born with the ambition of becoming chancellor. But if you want to make a difference, if you enjoy putting ideas into practice, then the post of chancellor has to be the one presenting the biggest opportunity of all.
-- Angela Merkel

#Believe #Ambition #Opportunity

I think we can say our energy system will be the most efficient and environmentally friendly in the world.
-- Angela Merkel

#Thinking #Friendly #Energy

We're saying this to both countries: We want a two-state solution. We want a Jewish state of Israel and alongside a independent Palestinian state. Unilateral measures are not helping at all to bring about this cause, and we agree that we wish to cooperate very closely on this, because as we both say, time is of the essence.
-- Angela Merkel

#Country #Independent #Essence

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.
-- Angela Merkel

#Sorry #Athlete #Effort

"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," she said. "Today is first and foremost a time to say thank you," "I shall personally never, ever forget this."
-- Angela Merkel

#Wall #War #Opportunity

As a woman with strong opinions talking about technology and politics is not always welcome in Germany. Nope, it's more like having a great cheerleader team behind me. People who follow my journey know I have a slightly colorful personality. The rest skipped out long ago.
-- Angela Merkel

#Strong #Women #Team

I am thankful for all the hard times I've been through and all the tears I've cried because that has put me as closer to God and made me the strong woman I am today!
-- Angela Merkel

#Strong Women #Hard Times #Tears

Don't get bitter and twisted and nasty by life. You may have been wronged or cheated on; two wrongs never make a right. Instead learn your mistakes and learn your lessons. Remain strong with your head held high.
-- Angela Merkel

#Strong #Mistake #Women

It's not five minutes to midnight. It's five minutes after midnight.
-- Angela Merkel

#Midnight #Climate Change #Minutes

We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity - that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.
-- Angela Merkel

#Christian #Humanity #Accepting

For 10 years, I have fought passionately for climate protection.
-- Angela Merkel

#Years #Climate #Passionate

We think of cannabis as a drug, in accordance with international opinions. This means that even consuming small amounts can lead to very severe dependence. With alcohol or cigarettes however, sensibly limited consumption does not bear the risk of immediate addictiveness as this is the case with cannabis according to our opinion. With alcohol there surely is an element of a tradition. However, enjoyed in moderation, as supplement to a meal for example, alcohol is not something that causes immediate dependence. Still, there is a great need for prevention and information in this matter.
-- Angela Merkel

#Mean #Thinking #Marijuana

NATO needs to adapt its strategy to meet new challenges
-- Angela Merkel

#War #Challenges #Historical

Democracy must be our answer to terrorism
-- Angela Merkel

#Inspiring #Democracy #Answers

Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.
-- Angela Merkel

In Europe it is particularly important that we build good relations to everyone who holds political responsibility because Europe can only be build together.
-- Angela Merkel

#Responsibility #Europe #Political