A grand coalition would be one of the worst outcomes for our country, because there would be no possibility to change what has to be changed, to get a ticket for reform.

I had a Jewish grandfather. We managed to hide this fact from the authorities by falsifying documents, my father and I. His father was Jewish, but because my father was an illegitimate child, it was rather easy to pretend that his father was unknown.

Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps.

Farmers are always conservative. They stick to what they have learned from their fathers and from their grandfathers. This is the same all over the globe.

I will not be remembered in history. I have not been shot. I have not launched any great tragedy or victory. I have not borne any great defeat. It was a very normal - it still is a very normal - human life of a political leader.

If I ever had to emigrate, I would probably go to America.