Angela Merkel

“Let us answer the terrorists by living our values with courage.”

“Spying among friends is never acceptable.”

“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.”

“If the euro fails, Europe fails.”

“After the reunification, there was a certain sense of foreignness because daily life in the former East German states was completely turned inside out - everything from the shops to the bureaucracy to the working world.”

“At German unification, we were lucky to get so much help from West Germany. Now, we have the good fortune of being able to help each other in Europe.”

“The question is not whether we are able to change but whether we are changing fast enough.”

“India needs jobs, Germany needs people, and collaboration is crucial to meet the demographic needs of both countries.”

“The 'community method' can only be applied in those areas in which the European Union actually has competence. Where the community has no competence, the 'community method' clearly cannot be applied.”

“Sometimes I can't stop myself from buying things just because I see them - even when I don't really need them.”

“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.”

“In many regions, war and terror prevail. States disintegrate. For many years, we have read about this. We have heard about it. We have seen it on TV. But we had not yet sufficiently understood that what happens in Aleppo and Mosul can affect Essen or Stuttgart. We have to face that now.”

“Hatred, racism, and extremism have no place in this country.”

“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.”

“We are a country based on democracy, tolerance, and openness to the world.”

“As a 7-year-old child, I saw the Wall being erected. No one - although it was a stark violation of international law - believed at the time that one ought to intervene militarily in order to protect citizens of the GDR and whole Eastern bloc, of the consequences of that - namely, to live in lack of freedom for many, many years.”

“We need... to say to people that this is a temporary residential status, and we expect that, once there is peace in Syria again, once IS has been defeated in Iraq, that you go back to your home country with the knowledge that you have gained.”

“I can say that we are very clear in our mind about the responsibility of the national soldiers for the break with civilisation that was the Shoah. We are firmly convinced that this is something that will have to be handed over to generations to come... so we don't see any reason to change our view of history.”

“We work well together with the United Kingdom - particularly, perhaps, when we talk about new rules for the European Union.”

“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.”