People From Berlin

"All the works of man perish and decay."

"The cultivation of ideals is the greatest work of civilization."

"Among the many eminent qualities which the Americans possess, it is, above all, their spirit of enterprise, their sense of order, and their inventive capacity, which attract the attention of the whole world."

"Germany possesses an army commensurate with her needs, and if Great Britain has a navy corresponding to her requirements, Europe in general cannot fail to regard it as a most important factor for the maintenance of peace."

"The British troops have filled me with the greatest admiration. If the possibility of a volunteer army is ever doubted, I shall be able to give such an army a testimony of efficiency."

"The same blood runs in English and German veins. I am a friend of England. The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my own land; but it is a minority of the best elements."

"It is the power of tradition which on the field of battle as well as in peace makes men's heart beat higher for king and country, and inspires them to brave deeds."

"I am well aware of the fact that by the public at large, and particularly in foreign countries, I am represented as entertaining a wanton and ambitious craving for war. May God keep me from such criminal folly."

"I am opposed to war; but war can only be avoided by exerting to the utmost the defensive forces of the State."

"May we always be mindful that it is our duty to protect religion which should be preserved for the nation, and to uphold morals and order."

"My Catholic subjects can rely on my Imperial protection, wherever and whenever they may stand in need of it."

"Every Catholic ought to know that I honour his religion and that he will never be prevented in his exercise of it if he respects the beliefs of those who profess other faiths."

"Religion has never risen from science: it is an overflowing of the heart of man in his relations with God."

"I verily believe that everyone must feel a touch of inspiration when he stands before the altar and looks at the crucifix."

"An exemplary Christian life, charitable love of our neighbour, and our weak or suffering brethren, the fear of God, loyalty to king and love of country—these are virtues to be practised, and these are the arms to which God will give the victory."

"No words of man have ever been uttered worthy of comparison with the words of Christ."

"I like to read the Bible, and I read it every day. I always have it beside my bed, and I cannot understand how there can be so many people who take such little heed of the Word of God."

"No morning or evening passes without my offering up a prayer for my people."

"Our wives can learn from Queen Louise that the principal task of a woman does not lie in the domain of political meetings and propaganda, but in the quiet duties of the hearth and of family."

"My people must aid me in my duties, not by angry speeches or by the unreasonable opposition of political parties, but by explaining their difficulties to their Sovereign and showing confidence in him."

"Our people must resolve to make sacrifices; above all, they must divest themselves of their passion for seeking the highest good in ever more and more sharply accentuated party struggles. They must cease to place the party above the welfare of the whole."

"The King of Prussia stands so high above all political parties and the wire-pulling and hatred of politicians, that he can contemplate his subjects without taking these things into account, and can thus work for the benefit of each one of his people and each separate province."

"To protect Germany's sea trade and colonies, in the existing circumstances, there is only one means: Germany must have a battle fleet so strong that, even for the adversary with the greatest sea-power, a war against it would involve such dangers as to imperil its position in the world."

"It is understood that a defensive fleet does not merely serve to protect the interests of the traders of our great commercial cities, but that it is also needed, and bitterly needed, for the protection of the industry of our entire people and their success in the world."

"Should it ever happen that the British and German Navies have to fight side by side against a common foe, then the famous signal "England expects that every man will do his duty," which England's greatest naval hero gave out before the battle of Trafalgar, will find an echo in the patriotic heart of the German Navy."

"The German fleet is the youngest fleet in the world, and another proof of the growing importance of the new German Empire. It is destined to protect the commerce and territory of this Empire, and it will, like the German Army, serve to keep the peace of the world."

"Our future lies upon the water. To the sea our thoughts are turned—the sea, which is the symbol of eternity. Seas do not separate; they unite."

"The feeling of sympathy for science which is innate in every Prussian king is also active in me."

"By God's grace our German stock has been able to produce mighty heroes of thought, from Boniface and Walter von der Vogelweide down to Goethe and Schiller, and they have become a light and blessing to all posterity. They worked for humanity at large, and yet they were strictly well-contained Germans, that is to say, personalities, men. We need such men to-day more than ever."

"I dream of an Empire and it is this: The newly-born German Empire must possess the confidence of everybody, must be considered everywhere as a quiet, honest and peaceful neighbour; and if some day in the future a German world-empire is spoken of, it must not be based on the conquests of the sword, but on the reciprocal confidences of nations united for an identical end."

"I made up my mind after reading the lessons of history never to dream of a vast world-empire. For what has become of all those so-called world-empires? Alexander, Napoleon and all such great captains bathed themselves in blood, and yet left behind them subjugated peoples, who, after those great men had died, rose in revolt and ruined the Empires they had created."

"The essence of nationality is demarcation from the outside world by a definite boundary to correspond with the personal characteristics of a nation and its racial idiosyncrasies."

"The present age delights in casting many a glance backward at the past, and in comparing it with the existing state of things, mostly to the disadvantage of the latter. He who can look back at such a glorious past as, thank God, we Germans can, does well to do so, in order to learn many a lesson therefrom. In a monarchical state this is called tradition."

"I look upon the people and nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God, and that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush."

"I have sworn to myself that I will neglect nothing to bring about the unity of our people, and to crush everything that tends to divide the nation."

"Germany is in no need of fresh military glory, nor does she require any new conquests, for she has already obtained once for all, on the field of battle, the right to exist as an united and independent nation."

"If you are good soldiers, you must also be good Christians and religious at heart. He who is no good Christian is no good man and also no Prussian soldier, and can under no circumstances perform what is required of a soldier in the Prussian Army."

"I solemnly vow always to be mindful of the fact that the eyes of my ancestors are looking down upon me from the other world, and that one day I shall have to render to them an account of both the glory and the honour of the Army."

"When I have to act or think I always ask myself the question: What does the Bible say in similar circumstances? The Bible is for me a spring whence I draw strength and light."

"I am of opinion that in the position in which I am placed it is of far greater service to me to confer benefits on mankind than to inspire them with fear."

"My life and my work belong to my people, the promotion of whose welfare is the noblest task of my kingly office."

"Our predecessors have gone; we remain; and it is our duty to preserve what they bequeathed us."

"The Great Elector is the one among my ancestors whom I have regarded with the most enthusiastic admiration, and from my youth up have set before my eyes as my model."

"Our first and foremost duty is to show ourselves worthy of our ancestors and their achievements. And that we can only do by an undeviating adherence to the paths which they traced out for our guidance."

"I, too, like my imperial grandfather, represent the kingship by God's grace. My grandfather believed that the functions of the king were a task given to him by God, a task to which it was his duty to devote his strength up to the last moment of his life. What he thought I also think."

"The king holds his power by the grace of God, to whom alone he is responsible. He chooses his own path, and only decides his actions from this point of view. It is the Kingship by the grace of God, the Kingship with its heavy duties, its never finished, unending toils and labours, with its dread responsibility to the Creator alone, from which no man, no minister, no House of Deputies, and no people can release the Prince."

"Having succeeded to the throne of my ancestors, I have taken over the government, relying upon the King of Kings, and I have vowed to God that, acting in accordance with the example of my predecessors, I will endeavour to be a just and clement ruler, that I will encourage piety and the fear of God, that I will uphold peace and promote the welfare of the country, and further, that I will strive to be a helper to the poor and oppressed and a faithful guardian of the law."

"You English are like mad bulls — you see red everywhere! What on earth has come over you, that you would heap on us such suspicion as is unworthy of a great nation... I regard this misapprehension as a personal insult... You make it uncommonly difficult for a man to remain friendly to England."

"Let me assure the Sultan and the three hundred million Moslems... That the German Emperor will ever be their friend."

"The fleet is necessary to show that Germany is as well-born as Britain."