Joschka Fischer

Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 1948-04-12) is a politician of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) who was Vice Chancelor and Foreign Minister (1998-2005).

Sourced

• Stalin was a guy like we are, not only that he considered himself a revolutionary and lived like one, but he was a character in the truest sense of the word... We have finally to let out this psychological wreckage... it is our and my darkest chapter, I know or better to say I suspect it, because I am extremely afraid of certain things that are inside of me. Bartsch and Honka are extreme cases, but in some sense this is as personality inside of oneself... then it easily developed into, yes, the thrill of punching, tending to be a sadistic pleasure.
  • Autonomie, No. 5 (1977)

• Mit Verlaub Herr Präsident, Sie sind ein Arschloch.
  • With all due respect, Mr President, you are an asshole.
  • Said to German Bundestag vice president Richard Stücklen after he excluded Jürgen Reents because he described Helmut Kohl as von Flick freigekauft [bought out by Flick) (1984-10-18); from S. Krause-Burger: Joschka Fischer. Der Marsch durch die Illusionen.

• Let’s forget the reunification, let’s just shut up and don't talk about that topic for the next 20 years.
  • Vergessen wir die Wiedervereinigung. Halten wir die nächsten 20 Jahre die Schnauze darüber (Autumm 1989)

• Ich sehe uns schon mit Dreadlocks da sitzen und eine riesige Tüte rauchen, im Hintergrund Reggae-Music und vor uns ein dampfendes Bier. Im Ernst: Wie stellen Sie sich das vor?
  • I can already picture us sitting there with dreadlocks, smoking a huge joint, listening to reaggae-music and in front of us a steaming beer. Seriously: Can you imagine such a thing?
  • After the 2005 Bundestags election discussion of the so-called Jamaica coalition.

• My name is Mr. Fischer. What’s your name?
  • When asked about his name by President Bush (2005-10-22) http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=archivseite&dig=2005/02/24/a0197

Unsourced

• Excuse me, I am not convinced.
  • Adressing U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with regard to the Iraq War at the 39th Security Conference in Munich

• I recognize now how much I remained a Marxist.
  • 1997

• The European Union is a value - and not a religion-community.

• Die Grünen dürfen nicht nach jeder Niederlage den Kopf noch tiefer in den Sandhaufen der Lebenslügen stecken.

• Humans without shadow are unpresentable.

• Wer das Wünschbare mit dem Machbaren verwechselt, wird scheitern.
  • Who mixes up the wishable and the doable will fail.

• Wir dürfen eine gute Sache nicht am falschen Schein ruinieren.
  • We must not ruin a good thing with a bad appearance.