The Russian contribution to peace in Ukraine is not sufficient. [German Chancellor commenting on 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine and annexation of Crimea]

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.

Free access to the single market will be granted to a country which accepts the four fundamental freedoms of movement of people, goods, services, and capital.

If you wish to have free access to the single market, then you have to accept the fundamental rights as well as obligation that come from it.

It is nonsense to say that Germans are unable to change.

I have a relatively sunny spirit, and I always had the expectation that my path through life would be relatively sunny, no matter what happened. I have never allowed myself to be bitter.