I defended myself at the first opportunity I had, which was a meeting of writers in which I proved that Honecker had based his whole attack.

I certainly hoped that in the Eastern part of Germany, what was just beginning to be called the German Democratic Republic, you would develop a system of socialism with freedom and democracy.

I was in psychological warfare in World War II, so I know psychological warfare when I see it.

The Wall was the actual symbol of a defeat, of inferiority.

If you live in a system that is suppressive, you don't walk upright, you always go with your head down.

Show me one place where a whole government is concerned with a book of a writer and is concerned enough to suppress it.

A great number of people in the East German parts had been Nazis, so the change of mind was not altogether there.

A foreman in the East wouldn't know how many workers he would have the next day, because part of his working force had left the system to go to West Germany.

We certainly hoped perestroika would win out and that there would be changes. We knew all along that socialism could flourish only with a certain amount of freedom and democracy.

Even in West Germany in the beginning, people wanted a kind of socialism.

I not only saw the possibility of nuclear war, I feared it very much. If they started a military conflagration, it would automatically lead to nuclear warfare.

It was not the feeling of completeness I so needed, but the feeling of not being empty.

But who has time to write memoirs? I’m still living my memoirs.

Insanity is a state of profound self-absorption.

I was trying to play as real possible - I wanted everything to be real.

My life isn't focused on results. My life is really focused on the process of doing all the things I'm doing, from work to relationships to friendships to charitable work.

If you desire to please God with the decision you make and afterward it proves to be a mistake, it’s an error not an end.

I am the most ruthless, brutal champion ever. There is no one who can match me. I want your heart. I want to eat your children.

Punishment is not prevention. History offers cold comfort to those who think grievance and despair can be subdued by force.

And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!

I know a lot of people that don't pray or anything, and that's fine - but I need to. I don't even want to call it prayer, I just want to call it talking to something bigger than me.