My friendship with Martin [Schulz], by contrast, is completely different in that it goes far beyond politics.

When the going gets tough, you have to lie.

When it becomes serious, you have to lie.

I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates.

I believe neither the French nor the Dutch really rejected the constitutional treaty.

I notice with a certain sense of regret that far too many Europeans are returning to a regional and national mindset.

Decisions can only be reached in Europe if France and Germany agree.

It is not acceptable that European Union countries are divided into those who give and those who take.

I am chilled by the realization of how similar circumstances in Europe in 2013 are to those of 100 years ago.

It is not more Europe or less Europe that we need. We need a better Europe.

I am for secret, dark debates.

Forgive someone today. Especially if that someone is you.

Trusting fate is like gambling on an unknown outcome with unknown consequences.

There are springs in the mind from which others cannot drink.

If you prepare for old age old age comes sooner.

God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it.

Ideas exist in the marketplace; they are thrown out for everyone to use.

To perfect your nature doesn't mean to have some idea of what a perfect person is and to simply be that. That doesn't work.

We live, we die, we are remembered, we are forgotten.

The worst of guardians is a cruel ruler. Beware of becoming one of them.

Art, for me, has always been a ticket for experience.