The Berlin Wall wasn't the only barrier to fall after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Traditional barriers to the flow of money, trade, people and ideas also fell. — Fareed Zakaria
Berlin is the testicles of the West, every time I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin. — Nikita Khrushchev
The fall of the Berlin Wall makes for nice pictures. But it all started in the shipyards. — Lech Walesa
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. — Winston Churchill
George Bush taking credit for the wall coming down is like the rooster taking credit for the sun rising. — Al Gore
I hear it said that West Berlin is militarily untenable - and so was Bastogne, and so, in fact, was Stalingrad. Any danger spot is tenable if men - brave men - will make it so. — John F. Kennedy
...what happened in New York and Washington is the same thing that England and America did to Berlin every day for three years during World War II -- and Germany did the same thing to England. — Lemmy Kilmister
Consider the momentous event in architecture when the wall parted and the column became. — Louis Kahn
And if I know anything at all, it's that a wall is just a wall and nothing more at all. It can be broken down. — Assata Shakur
Naturally enough, I couldn't have foreseen the vast sea change which has come upon that scene as a result of German reunification and associated events. — Brian Ferneyhough
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know what I was walling in or walling out. — Robert Frost
Short Berlin Wall Quotes
Democracy may not be perfect, but at least I don't have to build a wall to keep my people in. — John F. Kennedy
I’ve built a wall not to keep love out but to see who loves me enough to climb it. — Edward Barber
Today, Germany is on the borders of Europe everywhere. — Heinrich Himmler
Every wall is a door. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
My mind-set is Munich. Most of my generation's is Vietnam. — Madeleine Albright
And the walls became the world all around. — Maurice Sendak
The Cold War had become a battlefield marked by doublespeak. — Annie Jacobsen
A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with. — Banksy
With a rumble and a roar, an iron curtain is descending on Russian history. — Vasily Rozanov
Stone by stone, makes a wall, wall by wall makes a castle. — Albanian Proverbs
Don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door.
Fall Of The Berlin Wall Quotes
[Fall of the Berlin Wall] is a reminder that the commitment of the United States, to Europe is enduring and it's rooted in the values we share; our commitment to democracy, our commitment to rule of law, our commitment to the dignity of all people in our own countries and around the world. — Barack Obama
I remember an article, I can't recall who by, it was after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which said that now the Wall was down, there could be no more class war. Only someone with money could ever say such a thing. — Claude Chabrol
Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I've had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam... and I'm not happy to be right in all of those cases — David Brin
We build too many walls and not enough bridges.
The fall of the Berlin Wall really demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was a bad system, and what subsequently happened in the Soviet Union, that that system was a failure. — Milton Friedman
I believe, if done correctly, eliminating Saddam and liberating Iraq could be the ‘Normandy Invasion’ or ‘fall of the Berlin Wall’ of our generation...the Iraqi people are eager to be rid of Saddam, and there is equally encouraging evidence that republican principles could thrive there. — Pete Hegseth
The fall of the Berlin Wall did more for the progress of freedom than all of the books written by myself or Friedrich Hayek or others. — Milton Friedman
When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.
We are living in a world in which developments are harder to predict and one that has become more uncertain. In such a world, you must be prepared for the unpredictable. Nobody predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Arab Spring. — Jens Stoltenberg
Fall of the Berlin wall? Being there was fun. Nations that flaked off of the Soviet Union in southeastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus? Being there was not so fun. — P. J. O'Rourke
This coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall and Europe coming closer together, and nightlife and techno and ecstasy culture seemed like a very powerful panEuropean movement. — Wolfgang Tillmans
Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of a tragic era for the world, these elections have marked the turning point for our history. — Javier Milei
Historian Quotes
There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. — Chinua Achebe
Ancient Egypt was a Negro Civilization. The history of Black Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the history of Egypt. — Cheikh Anta Diop
When you compare yourself with others in matters of wealth, position, and health, you should look at people less favoured than yourself. When you compare yourself with others in matters of religion, knowledge and virtue, look at people who are better than yourself. — Ibn Hazm
People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
History should not be left to the historians. Rather, be like Churchill. Make history, and then write it. — Ferdinand Marcos
Historians are dangerous and capable of turning everything upside down. They have to be watched. — Nikita Khrushchev
I'm not an aviation historian, I'm not an Air Force aficionado, and I'm definitely not a ufologist. — Annie Jacobsen
Follow your dreams and the universe will open doors where there we only walls.
We must be very careful not to assign this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations — Winston Churchill
The function off the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present. — Edward Hallett Carr
I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years. — David Rockefeller
The new line is that, yes, totally out-of-control migration is with us forever; yes, it is leading to social breakdown and chaos in Europe; but if we adopt ‘new ideas’ everything is going to be just fine. Historians will look back and laugh, won’t they? — Philip Pilkington
West Berlin Quotes
It's a different outlook, and one that I understand. When you are a former member of the Warsaw Pact, when you have lived behind the Berlin Wall, when you have experienced the communist systems that existed in these countries, for them, the West represents hope. — Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. — John F. Kennedy
Any danger spot is tenable if men, brave men, will make it so. — John F. Kennedy
The walls we build around us to keep sadness out, also keeps out joy.
During the cold war, West Berlin was an exclave - a tiny outpost of liberalism surrounded by people who want to crush it. It was like Austin, Texas. — Craig Ferguson
Private travel into foreign countries can be requested without conditions [...]. Permission will be granted instantly. Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR into the FRG or Berlin (West). — Gunter Schabowski
My first visit to West Berlin was in February 1983. The drive through East Berlin, the fact that West Berlin was surrounded by a wall that was more than 100 miles long - the absurdity and intensity of it really knocked me out. — Henry Rollins
Don't just be another brick in the wall
If the purpose of the wall was to destroy Berlin, Herr Ulbricht and his cohorts have erred sadly. Berlin is not only going to continue to exist - it's going to grow and grow and grow. Its ties to West Germany will not be severed. — Robert Kennedy
Berlin Germany Quotes
In Germany air became generally accepted Berlin in this area. It operated with 45 airplanes within the Low Cost range from Germany, and is one the most successful carriers in Europe. — Niki Lauda
My work in those years was essentially of a propagandist nature. I was too young and unknown to play a part in the leading circles of Germany, let alone of world Zionism, which was controlled from Berlin. — Nahum Goldmann
I had been involved in U.S. intelligence in Berlin, Germany, while in the military and had worked with a contact with the Central Intelligence Agency office there. — George J. Mitchell
You are confined only by the walls you build yourself
The particular feature of Berlin - well, all you need to do is look at the map: the geographical position of the city right in the heart of Europe, and the separation of the most powerful two blocs we've ever had in history, which went all the way through Germany. — Markus Wolf
Born Berlin 1931, Germany, father a British diplomat, mother an American artist. Educated at various schools all over the world. 1958 Settled down to live in London. 1966 Became interested in photography through photographing my young children. No formal training. — Fay Godwin
I myself have already spent a third of my life in Germany, first in Cologne and then, since 1994, in Berlin. — Olafur Eliasson
People build up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.
We, of course, have the power of hindsight in our arsenal, but people living in Berlin in that era didn't. What would that have been like as this darkness fell over Germany? — Erik Larson
If you want a model for what is possible, if you want to see how to build a peaceful and prosperous and dynamic society, then look at Berlin and look at Germany. — Barack Obama
After the German abstention at the UN, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle commented that Germany doesn't always have to stand on the side of its traditional allies. Berlin can look for new partners all over the world. — Donald Rumsfeld
[Written in 1901:] Nothing has been so deplorable for countries as centralization. I am afraid when I see Germany grow so powerful, and centralizing in Berlin; it is the beginning of the end! — Elisabeth of Wied
East Berlin Quotes
I create my own lyrics. I have a great band. I have a drummer from East Berlin. — Nina Hagen
I'm from East Berlin. I grew up in the Bertold Brecht, Kurt Weil tradition, also in the old hippie tradition. — Nina Hagen
From the beginning, we failed to overcome Europe's division. The Berlin Wall fell, but invisible walls were moved to the East of Europe. This has led to mutual misunderstandings and assignments of guilt. They are the cause of all crises ever since. — Vladimir Putin
You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.
Architects thrive after massive urban disasters. The abject collapse of East Berlin gave us the only city in Europe with a mighty host of Postmodern skyscrapers. — Bruce Sterling
I view the United States, today, much like East Berlin. And I'm off the grid. I've tried for 20 years to warn the country about the Democrats and Republicans, and nobody's listening. — Jesse Ventura
I remember I went to Berlin right after the Wall came down. I first went to East Berlin, and all the buildings were old and falling down, and now when you go back to Berlin, you know you're in the East because all the buildings are brand new and very tall. — Moby
East Germany Quotes
You know, North Korea situation is far worse than East Germany, and South Korea is weaker than West Germany. — Kim Dae-jung
Russia is Germany's most important neighbor in the East, and it will remain so. — Helmut Kohl
I accept responsibility for U-boat warfare from 1933 onward, and of the entire navy from 1943 on, but to make me responsible for what happened to Jews in Germany, or Russian soldiers on the east front it is so ridiculous all I can do is laugh. — Karl Donitz
The walls around you do not define wealth within you...
My last wish is that Germany realize its entity and that an understanding be reached between East and West. I wish peace to the world. — Joachim von Ribbentrop
In opening China, the English have secured their presence in East Asia. If we don't commit more resources to get into Southeast Asia now, they or Germany, or even little Belgium might find it ripe for the taking. — Jules Ferry
[Mikhail] Gorbachev complained. He was told look, there's nothing on paper. People didn't actually say it but the implication was look, if you are dumb enough to take faith in a gentleman's agreement with us, that's your problem. NATO expanded to East Germany. — Noam Chomsky
I don't have to come back, because I am still here! And I'm not an '80s thing. I already worked with my first band back in East Germany and that was soooo '70s, young man. I'm a '70s thing. If I'm a thing at all... and an exciting thing. — Nina Hagen
East Germany was so total in its totalitarianism that everything was banned which wasn't compulsory. — P. J. O'Rourke
I was the very first athlete in East Germany allowed to go professional. — Katarina Witt
In places like Germany or France the idea of black-white is not so much black-white but "our people and them," and "them" can be people from the near east like Turks or Muslims or North Africans, all of whom might well be considered white in the United States. — Nell Irvin Painter
Berlin Quotes
God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above. — Irving Berlin
No matter what happens to me and my career in the future, Berlin is always going to be my hometown. — Alexandra Lara
I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn't in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I'd learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself. — Jesse Owens
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. — Irving Berlin
Atom bombs, something's wrong. D.E.A sent to Guam. Acid Trips, big fat chics. Purple Finstone Vitamins.All the needy rich are greedy. I find out you don't need me. Berlin wall starts to fall. I trip out to the wall. Hooray Horrah — Chester Bennington
It's always the small people who change things. It's never the politicians or the big guys. I mean, who pulled down the Berlin wall? It was all the people in the streets. The specialists didn't have a clue the day before. — Luc Besson
I don’t feel pressure. I don’t give a toss about it. I spent the afternoon of Sunday, July 9, 2006 in Berlin sleeping and playing the PlayStation. In the evening, I went out and won the World Cup. — Andrea Pirlo
Irving Berlin has no place in American music -- he is American music. — Jerome Kern
In Berlin Jews controlled almost one hundred percent of the theaters and cinemas before the rise to power. — Hermann Goring
Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is an inalienable ingredient in what makes human beings human. — Isaiah Berlin
Iron Curtain Quotes
The horrors of the Second World War, the chilling winds of the Cold War and the crushing weight of the Iron Curtain are little more than fading memories. Ideals that once commanded great loyalty are now taken for granted. — Jan Peter Balkenende
What can not be overcome in prayer? Answer me! What cannot be done by the hand of the Almighty? Answer me! What can be done by your feeble arms!? ANSWER ME! He can take down the iron curtain in a day, He CAN convert a nation in an hour. Call upon Him, believe Him. — Paul Washer
From behind the Iron Curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard. — Dwight D. Eisenhower
This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible. — Natan Sharansky
But scientists on both sides of the iron curtain played a very significant role in maintaining the momentum of the nuclear arms race throughout the four decades of the Cold War. — Joseph Rotblat
There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace. — William Bourke Cockran
I'd get me a bunch of bats and balls and sneak me a couple of umpires and learn them kids behind the Iron Curtain how to tote a bat and play baseball. — Dizzy Dean
A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. — Winston Churchill
I realized that it's all really one, that John Lennon was correct. We utilize the music to bring down the walls of Berlin, to bring up the force of compassion and forgiveness and kindness between Palestines, Hebrews. Bring down the walls here in San Diego, Tijuana, Cuba. — Carlos Santana
At some point he seemed to lose all confidence trying to break down the Berlin Wall. He was still fighting as only Kasparov can, but I could see it in his eyes that he knew he wasn't going to win one of these games. — Vladimir Kramnik
I'm not a prophet, but I always thought it was natural for dictatorships to fall. I remember in 1989, two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, had you said it was going to happen no one would have believed you. The system seemed powerful and unbreakable. Suddenly overnight it blew away like dust. — Salman Rushdie
When the Berlin Wall came down the Americans cried, 'Victory,' and walked off the field. — Paul Keating
The Berlin Wall go down, that was the most wonderful thing that could happen, absolutely. I celebrated with everybody in Berlin that day when the Wall was down. — Nana Mouskouri
The world has fundamentally changed. It fundamentally changed when the Berlin Wall came down and the 'evil empire' ceased to exist. We are engaged around the world whether we like it or not. — Robert Foster Bennett
The Soviet Union could not exist without the image of the empire. The image of the empire could not exist without the image of force. The USSR ended the moment the first hammer pounded the Berlin Wall. — Boris Yeltsin
I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie. — David Hasselhoff
So at last the communists who piled out of the Berlin Wall and into the environmental movement and took over Greenpeace so that my friends who founded it left within a year because they'd captured it. Now the apotheosis is at hand. They are about to impose a communist world government on the world. — Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
His mouth is a no-go area. It's like kissing the Berlin Wall. — Helena Bonham Carter
We praise the strength, the patience and the longing of the people who did not stop thinking of freedom and democracy in these dark times — Joachim Gauck
The Berlin Wall is the defining achievement of socialism. — George Will
A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war. — John F. Kennedy
I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting . . . it was the start of a new Arab world.. The Berlin Wall has fallen. — Walid Jumblatt
You have won the Cold War. ... [Your] underappreciated valor [helped] topple the Berlin Wall, and bring down dictators the world over. ... For the past four decades the world behind the Iron Curtain ... looked to Americans for hope, and America looked to you to get the job done. Today, the free world says thank you. — Bob Dole
Life punishes those who come too late. — Mikhail Gorbachev
Young people in college were not even born when the Berlin Wall fell, and so they are not really cognizant of the Cold War and what that meant. Now, truly, the genie is out of the bottle and you have the possibility that terrorists ... could be stealing a bomb or buying a bomb — Valerie Plame
Conservatives recognize there's gonna be winners and losers. The communists say that's not right. There shouldn't be any losers, and they set about trying to create circumstances where people think nobody will lose. But everybody loses under communism. They eventually have to build walls around countries to keep people in, as in the Berlin Wall. — Rush Limbaugh
"Contemporary art" for me is a kind of historical term that describes the 40 years between the Berlin Wall going up and then coming down. I'm not sure who will come up with a better term to describe art, but I think contemporary art is actually done for. — Liam Gillick
I remember when the Berlin Wall fell and suddenly intractable problems get solved. — Lucy Walker
Look at what has occurred in history. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was not surprising, but it was unexpected. Who predicted the Arab Spring? Nobody expected it, but all the ingredients were there. I think all the ingredients are also there for Quebec to become a country. But when? That's another question. — Gilles Duceppe
I think graffiti is part of Berlin culture. You think about what the Berlin wall meant and how visible that was in everyone's life. How it was a part of their very identity. — Ian Bremmer
Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an allowance given them by West German banks! At that moment the whole world saw how materialism had lost its awesome historic power and become a shopping list. — John Berger
Ronald Reagan will be remembered for leading the United States during a time of tremendous international transition - the demise of the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall coming down, and the end of the Cold War. — Mary Landrieu
I can understand the Chinese Wall: it was built as a defense against marauders. But a wall such as that in Berlin, built to prevent people from seeking freedom, is almost beyond comprehension. — Robert Kennedy
I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. — Ronald Reagan
The legacy of Ronald Reagan will live on forever. I, of course, had the wonderful opportunity of working with him and getting to know him personally. A more wonderful person you couldn't meet. I think the coming down of the Berlin Wall will always live in infamy. I treasure his friendship and appreciate so much what he did for me personally and for the issue of reducing gun violence. — Sarah Brady
As I've watched the Berlin Wall come down, the cry for freedom in China, and the eastern bloc nations, I rejoice, because I see the bankruptcy of Marxist-Leninism, socialism in this world. — Jerry Falwell
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