Top 100 Angela Merkel Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

— Angela Merkel

2. “Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.”

— Angela Merkel

3. “Freedom does not mean being free of something, but to be free to do something.”

— Angela Merkel

4. “I might bend, but I will NEVER break because it’s in my nature as a strong woman.”

— Angela Merkel

5. “Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century.”

— Angela Merkel

6. “Look forward to the future and look forward to the unknown. Nothing stays the same and people change. One day that hurt and pain will be a distant memory.”

— Angela Merkel

7. “When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.”

— Angela Merkel

8. “I am thankful for all the hard times I’ve been through and all the tears I’ve cried because that has put me as closer to God and made me the strong woman I am today!”

— Angela Merkel

9. “Neither the chains of dictatorship nor the fetters of oppression can keep down the forces of freedom for long.”

— Angela Merkel

10. “The willingness to learn new skills is very high.”

— Angela Merkel

11. “Don’t get bitter and twisted and nasty by life. You may have been wronged or cheated on; two wrongs never make a right. Instead learn your mistakes and learn your lessons. Remain strong with your head held high.”

— Angela Merkel

12. “A good compromise is one where everybody makes a contribution.”

— Angela Merkel

13. “Ladies, it is not your education, status or personality that has brought you here but the elegance of God which was still and still working upon you.”

— Angela Merkel

14. “Democracy must be our answer to terrorism.”

— Angela Merkel

15. “I am thankful for the way I was raised, to be positive. Even when times have gotten rough I have always tried to look on the bright side. Even when I was put down, yelled at and made feel insignificant, I still thought things were alright. I did realize when enough is enough.”

— Angela Merkel

16. “One can remain more sure-footed by taking small steps, but perhaps achieve greater speed by taking bigger steps. Of course, one also runs the risk of setting out in a completely erroneous direction. Surely the important thing isn’t the length of our steps, but that the objective is clear.”

— Angela Merkel

17. “I never underestimated myself. And I never saw anything wrong with ambition.”

— Angela Merkel

18. “I still believe in the old fashioned ways of showing a woman Respect and Honor!!”

— Angela Merkel

19. “Budget consolidation and economic growth are two sides of the same coin.”

— Angela Merkel

20. “It is a fact that, if I single out Germany, our rate of growth is too low and we have very high unemployment.”

— Angela Merkel

21. “Freedom is the very essence of our economy and society. Without freedom the human mind is prevented from unleashing its creative force. But what is also clear is that this freedom does not stand alone. It is freedom in responsibility and freedom to exercise responsibility.”

— Angela Merkel

22. “The euro is our common fate, and Europe is our common future.”

— Angela Merkel

23. “Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic, but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe.”

— Angela Merkel

24. “Just because times change and alot of people think that dating multiple people is the thing these days, it just isn’t a solid foundation at all in matters of the heart. I still believe in marriages that have a physically powerful foundation.”

— Angela Merkel

25. “Whoever decides to dedicate their life to politics knows that earning money isn’t the top priority.”

— Angela Merkel

26. “We must never forget our responsibilities as politicians to our country and its citizens. We must always remain humble before our people.”

— Angela Merkel

27. “Spying among friends is never acceptable.”

— Angela Merkel

28. “I said, yet again, for Germany, Europe is not only indispensable, it is part and parcel of our identity. We’ve always said German unity, European unity and integration, that’s two parts of one and the same coin. But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness.”

— Angela Merkel

29. “Ordinary people regard a man of a certain force and flexibility of character as they do a lion; they look at him with a sort of wonder, perhaps they admire him; but they will on no account house with him.”

— Angela Merkel

30. “At this time – we’re in a dramatic crisis – euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer. They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt.”

— Angela Merkel

31. “The real problem is that the financial base for our social security system is shrinking because the number of normal jobs is falling. In other words, we have to address the challenge of how to make employment, in the classic sense, attractive once again.”

— Angela Merkel

32. “If I run a time-limited test program, I’ll never discover whether markets with additional employment truly exist. A solution in the low-wage sector cannot be a limited special program.”

— Angela Merkel

33. “Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together.”

— Angela Merkel

34. “It’s not five minutes to midnight. It’s five minutes after midnight.”

— Angela Merkel

35. “Don’t get bogged down by life and other people’s problems or hang ups.”

— Angela Merkel

36. “The digital world creates situation where there are no secrets anymore.”

— Angela Merkel

37. “I am not here for women only, but also for women.”

— Angela Merkel

38. “The Freedom Bell in Berlin is, like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a symbol which reminds us that freedom does not come about of itself. It must be struggled for and then defended anew every day of our lives.”

— Angela Merkel

39. “This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed. Utterly failed.”

— Angela Merkel

40. “We need trust among allies and partners. Such trust now has to be built anew.”

— Angela Merkel

41. “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.”

— Angela Merkel

42. “I don’t carry any early childhood trauma around with me, if that’s what you’re hinting at. The story of the bicycles – and there were three of them which were stolen from me – I’ve dealt with it well.”

— Angela Merkel

43. “I think we can say our energy system will be the most efficient and environmentally friendly in the world.”

— Angela Merkel

44. “There’s a rumour going around that states cannot go bankrupt. This rumour is not true.”

— Angela Merkel

45. “I am courageous at the decisive moment. But I need a good deal of start-up time, and I try to take as much as possible into consideration beforehand.”

— Angela Merkel

46. “The G7 and former G8 group has always viewed itself as a community of values, the annexation of Crimea, which is a blatant violation of the principles of international law, and the events in eastern Ukraine are serious violations of these common values.”

— Angela Merkel

47. “As a woman with strong opinions talking about technology and politics is not always welcome in Germany. Nope, it’s more like having a great cheerleader team behind me. People who follow my journey know I have a slightly colorful personality. The rest skipped out long ago.”

— Angela Merkel

48. “We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity – that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.”

— Angela Merkel

49. “I think that the EU with the Lisbon agenda has put the right emphasis on growth and employment.”

— Angela Merkel

50. “It certainly is dangerous that there are only a few clubs left in Europe that can afford to pay millions. At the end of the day however, the spectators decide the rates of pay – by watching the games and consuming the goods and services advertised on sports TV programmes.”

— Angela Merkel