A Shakespeare could have arisen only on English soil. In the same way, your great dramatists and poets express the nature and essence of the Norwegian people, but they also express that which is universally valid for all mankind.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

As a consequence of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the officer corps of the old army became part of this class, as did that part of the younger generation who, in the old Germany, would have become officers or civil servants.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

But just as haste and restlessness are typical of our present-day life, so change also takes place more rapidly than before. This applies to change in the relationships between nations as it does to change within an individual nation.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Dante can be understood only within the context of Italian thought, and Faust would be unthinkable if divorced from its German background; but both are part of our common cultural heritage.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

During the past few years I have led a sometimes hard battle for German foreign policy.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Here we encounter two conflicting concepts with which we must come to grips in our time: the idea of national solidarity and the idea of international cooperation.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Historians still often see the end of the war as meaning nothing more for Germany than lost territories, lost participation in colonization, and lost assets for the state and individuals. They frequently overlook the most serious loss that Germany suffered.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

History uses a unit of measure for time that is different from that of the lifespan of the individual, whereas man is only too ready to measure the evolution of history by his own yardstick.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

If one seeks to analyze experiences and reactions to the first postwar years, I hope one may say without being accused of bias that it is easier for the victor than for the vanquished to advocate peace.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

In every man the memory of the struggles and the heroes of the past is alive. But these memories are not incompatible with the desire for peace in the future.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Just as the British subject loves England despite her faults, so we must insist that all Germans who were part of the old Germany and helped shape her, recognize the greatness and worthiness of present-day Germany.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Just as the child is father to the man, so the impressions of one's youth remain the most vivid in manhood.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

No change in the balance of political parties can alter the general determination that no class should be excluded from contributing to and sharing responsibility for the state.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

Nothing is more misleading to the youth of a nation than to state the outcome immediately after the beginning as if nothing could have taken place in between.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

The concept of active cooperation has taken the place of opposition to the new form of government and of dreamy resignation entranced with the beauty of times past.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

The great men of a nation reach out to all mankind. They are unifying, not divisive; internationally conciliating and still great nationally.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

This old Germany was partly defeated in its conflict with the progressive ideas of socialism, for it had given the people nothing that could serve as a successful alternative to socialism.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

To contrast national solidarity and international cooperation as two opposites seems foolish to me.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote

To walk behind others on a road you are traveling together, to give precedence to others without envy - this is painful for an individual and painful for a nation.
- Gustave Stresemann Quote