Konrad Adenauer Quotes

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. He switched focus from denazification to recovery and led his country from the ruins of World War II to a productive and prosperous nation that forged close relations with France, the United Kingdom and the United States. During his years in power, West Germany achieved democracy, stability, international respect and economic prosperity . He was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union , a Christian Democratic party that under his leadership became one of the most influential parties in the country.

Adenauer, who was Chancellor until age 87, was dubbed "Der Alte" . British politician and historian Roy Jenkins says he was "the oldest statesman ever to function in elected office." He belied his age by his intense work habits and his uncanny political instinct. He displayed a strong dedication to a broad vision of market-based liberal democracy and anti-communism. A shrewd politician, Adenauer was deeply committed to a Western-oriented foreign policy and restoring the position of West Germany on the world stage. He worked to restore the West German economy from the destruction of World War II to a central position in Europe, presiding over the German Economic Miracle. He was a driving force behind West Germany becoming the first German state to re-establish a national military in 1955. He came to terms with France, which made possible the economic unification of Western Europe. Adenauer opposed rival East Germany and made his nation a member of NATO and a firm ally of the United States.

A devout Roman Catholic, he had been a leading Centre Party politician in the Weimar Republic, serving as Mayor of Cologne and as president of the Prussian State Council .

✵ 5. January 1876 – 19. April 1967
Konrad Adenauer photo
Konrad Adenauer: 12   quotes 9   likes

Famous Konrad Adenauer Quotes

“We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.”

Reader's Digest 1972, p. 194 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=ctsnAQAAIAAJ&q=adenauer

“We will never forget. If it takes us five or ten or twenty years, we will never rest until we get our revenge.”

As quoted by General Sir Charles Fergusson in a memorandum (10 July 1945), recalling conversations with Adenauer in 1918-1919, at the end of World War I. As published in Adenauer : The Father of the New Germany (2000) by Charles Williams, p. 293 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=7mhpKYpugJsC&pg=PA293

“In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.”

As quoted in A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (1965) by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., p. 291 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=uFhNxX5lrNEC&pg=PA291&dq=stupidity

“Make Europe your revenge.”

To French PM Guy Mollet after British PM Sir Anthony Eden unilaterally cancelled the Suez operation, thus angering Mollet. (6 November 1956), as quoted in Europe's Troubled Peace, 1945-2000 (2006) by Tom Buchanan, p.102, 2nd ed. 2012 p. 84 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=cAHcBeZhm6UC&pg=PA84&dq=revenge

“I wish that an English statesman might once have spoken of us as Western Europeans.”

Adenauer's remarks on an Associated Press interview (5 October 1945)

“I reserve the right to be smarter today than I was yesterday.”

As quoted in Loggers' Handbook Vol. 36 (1976), p. 72; also in North Western Reporter, Second series (1992) https://books.google.com/books?id=I1KaAAAAIAAJ; similar remarks have been attributed to others, including more recent attributions to Adlai Stevenson and Abraham Lincoln.
Variant:
I insist on being smarter today than I was yesterday.
As quoted in How to Win the Meeting (1979) by Frank Snell, p. 3

Konrad Adenauer Quotes

“What do I care about my chitchat from yesterday?”

As quoted in Discussion : Mastering the Skills of Moderation (2009) by Horst Hanisch, p. 91

“One does not throw out dirty water as long as one doesn't have any clean water.”

Statement about Hans Globke, as quoted in "In eigener Sache" at n-tv (8 June 2006) http://www.n-tv.de/politik/BND-ueberprueft-Eichmann-Infos-article184945.html

“History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.”

Lend Me Your Ears: Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations (2010), 4th edition, edited by Antony Jay
Attributed

“I see the significance of the Marshall Plan in the fact that probably for the first time in history a victorious country held out its hand so that the vanquished might rise again.”

Oral History Interview with Konrad Adenauer https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/oral-histories/adenauer (10 June 1964), Harry S. Truman Library

“European integration should not be rigid but as flexible as we can possibly make it. It should not be a straitjacket for the peoples of Europe but should be their common mainstay, a common support for the healthy, individual development of each of them.”

Address on continuing European integration at the Grandes Conférences Catholiques https://www.cvce.eu/obj/address_given_by_konrad_adenauer_on_continuing_european_integration_brussels_25_september_1956-en-ea27a4e3-4883-4d38-8dbc-5e3949b1145d.html (25 September 1956)

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