Gustav Heinemann Quotes

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.

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.

Trust cannot be commanded; and yet it is also correct that the only one who earns trust is the one who is prepared to grant trust.

Therefore it does not help to sneer at the imperfection of today’s reality or to preach absolutes as a daily agenda.

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

The secret of big and revolutionary actions also consists in discovering the tiny step that is simultaneously a strategic step, insofar as it entails additional steps in the direction of a better reality.