Motto and Maxim
The maxim of Rau was “to reconcile, not divide”.
As his personal motto, Rau adopted the Confessing Church dictum “teneo, quia teneor” (I hold because I am held).
In his acceptance speech after his election, Rau claimed “A patriot I will be” because “a patriot is someone who loves his fatherland, a nationalist is someone who despises the fatherlands of the others”. The quote can be attributed to the French writer Romain Gary.
Read more about this topic: Johannes Rau
Famous quotes containing the words motto and/or maxim:
“I always say, my motto is “Art for my sake.” If I want to write, I write—and if I don’t want to, I won’t. The difficulty is to find exactly the form one’s passion—work is produced by passion with me ... Mwants to take.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)