Helmut Quotes & Sayings

We were united not only by political respect for each other, but also by deep mutual sympathy as people. — Helmut Kohl

It's quite true that what I am aiming at, even when I take portraits, is to get a scandalous picture. I would love to be a paparazzo. — Helmut Newton

The latter estimate is certainly an extravagant exaggeration — Helmut Schmid

There must be a certain look of availability in the women I photograph. I think the woman who gives the appearance of being available is sexually much more exciting than a woman who's completely distant. This sense of availability I find erotic. — Helmut Newton

When God forgives us for hitting Him with a club we should manage to put up with the pin pricks we get from our fellows. — Helmut Thielicke

Speaking figuratively, the study of theology often produces overgrown youths whose internal organs have not correspondingly developed. This is a characteristic of adolescence. There is actually something like theological puberty. — Helmut Thielicke

Anormal day looks like, you know, shower, put on the same jeans, the same tattered Gucci loafers I got at the thrift store, white socks, and my t-shirt and my very beat-up Helmut Lang blazer. I'm in the exact same outfit every day. — Natasha Lyonne

We are creating a unique experience. It's starts with how you see the building from a distance. — Helmut Jahn

In the end, I do think it's insulting to men and women to insist that they fit a certain profile. I never understood that. — Helmut Lang

I like to undress women - not to dress them. You know, like Manet's 'Olympia' or Helmut Newton's photographs - naked women with shoes. This is what I am trying to do. — Christian Louboutin

I design a lot of things that I wear onstage, but I'm always looking for unique stuff. I like creative things, so anything I can find at a secondhand costume shop to a Helmut Lang store, it doesn't matter - just unique stuff. — Amy Lee

We prefer synthetic rather than natural materials. Natural products are almost too valuable. Wood is much harder to produce than metal. And metal is recyclable, while wood isn't. — Helmut Jahn

The future will belong to the Germans ... when we build the House of Europe. In the next two years, we will make the process of European integration irreversible. This is a really big battle but it is worth the fight. — Helmut Kohl

Typography needs to be audible. Typography needs to be felt. Typography needs to be experienced. — Helmut Schmid

Helmut Lang does a lot of very military-influenced things. You have to find the designer that suits your body the best, and he works for me. — Kyle MacLachlan

The catch word is equilibrium again, informed the field what are conventional weapons or nuclear weapons of different qualities. You cannot make up for a actual or perceived disequilibrium in the conventional field by having more nuclear weapons. — Helmut Schmidt

I have mixed feelings about those sorts of things. When I see it done by interesting young people, I think it's very valid. But when established photographers, people in their forties, copy me and get a lot of money, well, I find that to be very stupid. — Helmut Newton

We want our buildings to work like a machine that will create a pleasurable environment. — Helmut Jahn

I strive for an architecture from which nothing can be taken away. — Helmut Jahn

Leonid Brezhnev did not understand the enormous political importance of the decision to produce and afterwards deploy the SS-20s. — Helmut Schmidt

The great German scholar Helmut Thielicke once said that a person who speaks to this hour's need will always be skirting the edge of heresy, but only the person who risks those heresies can gain the truth. — Rob Bell

For me it is completely clear that our air bases in Germany would be available to the Americans. — Helmut Kohl

Chinese buildings are like American buildings, with big footprints. People don't care about daylight or fresh air. — Helmut Jahn

In the photographs themselves there's a definite contrast between the figures and the location - I like that kind of California backyard look; clapboard houses, staircases outdoors. — Helmut Newton

We envy those whose possessions or achievements are a reflection on our own. They are our neighbors and equals. It is they, above all who make plain the nature of our failure. — Helmut Schoeck

In Europe, architects consider themselves artists. They think they're special when they win a competition. — Helmut Jahn

I hate the idea that someone think the destruction of Chicago as strategic affair, the destruction of Hamburg as a tactical one. — Helmut Schmidt

The gospel must be preached afresh and told in new ways to each generation, since every generation has its own unique questions. The gospel must constantly be forwarded to a new address, because the recipient is repeatedly changing his place of address. — Helmut Thielicke

If somewhere is a deficiency the normal American answer would have been well then, let's spend some more money, build some more weapons and deploy them. That's the normal way of thinking of the military, in America not only but also all over the place, but America or Russia or other countries. — Helmut Schmidt

If something is good, it doesn't go out of style every six months. The fashion wheel of today doesn't have to go as quickly as it was pushed in the 80's. — Helmut Lang

The army is under orders to defend every place. — Helmut Kohl

What I do see, for instance, is that the French are not very happy with the ... I am happy but they are not and I understand why they are not happy. They still believe in some nuclear strategic formulas which they have inherited from General De Gaulle and they have started the process of rethinking, they haven't gone very far. — Helmut Schmidt

The point of my photography has always been to challenge myself, to go a little further than my Germanic discipline and Teutonic nature would traditionally permit me to. — Helmut Newton

Genius and taste don't go together. — Helmut Newton

Helmut, if I had known that one can make it to 90 on 60 cigarettes a day, I would have started smoking 30 years ago. [at Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's 90th birthday] — Henry Kissinger

A building is hard to judge. It takes many years to find out whether it works. It's not as simple as asking the people in the office whether they like it. — Helmut Jahn

Neither camera, nor lens, nor film determine the quality of pictures; it is the visual perception of the man behind the mechanism which brings them to life. Art contains the allied ideas of making and begetting, of being master of one's craft and able to create. Without these properties no art exists and no photographic art can come into being — Helmut Gernsheim

If they were going to be like that, then I just wished they hadn't actually been German. It was too easy. Too obvious. It was like coming across an Irishman who actually was stupid, a mother-in-law who actually was fat, or an American businessman who actually did have a middle initial and smoked a cigar. You feel as if you are unwillingly performing in a music-hall sketch and wishing you could rewrite the script. If Helmut and Kurt had been Brazilian or Chinese or Latvian or anything else at all, they could then have behaved in exactly the same way and it would have been surprising and intriguing and, more to the point from my perspective, much easier to write about. Writers should not be in the business of propping up stereotypes. I wondered what to do about it, decided that they could simply be Latvians if I wanted, and then at last drifted off peacefully to worrying about my boots. — Douglas Adams

You don't know what the Chinese expect in the way of beauty. The presentation is just a farce. You come into a room filled with 50 people and they don't talk to you. There's very little interaction. — Helmut Jahn

Some of the American military obviously were thinking in terms of fighting a nuclear war. I was opposed to that. — Helmut Schmidt

For me, drawing generates thinking and vice versa. — Helmut Jahn

A city building, you experience when you walk; a suburban building, you experience when you drive. — Helmut Jahn

When I think of some of my earlier work, it really seems a fortunate coincidence that I succeeded. — Helmut Jahn

The Christian Democrats always made you feel like the poor relation. — Helmut Kohl

My plea is simply this: every theological idea which makes an impression upon you must be regarded as a challenge to your faith. Do not assume as a matter of course that you believe whatever impresses you theologically and enlightens you intellectually. Otherwise suddenly you are believing no longer in Jesus Christ, but in Luther, or in one of your other theological teachers. — Helmut Thielicke

Tell me how much you know of the sufferings of your fellow man and I will tell you how much you have loved them. — Helmut Thielicke

Like Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton, and so many others before me, sexual imagery has always been a part of my photography. — Terry Richardson

I had a very different vibe then, I was very into minimalism. I was kind of obsessed with Helmut Lang and [Martin] Margiela. — Roopal Patel

President [Ronald] Reagan told me he would negotiate and negotiate and negotiate with the Soviets, and I believed him. — Helmut Schmidt

Once I'm committed, I'm unafraid of the outcome. — Helmut Lang

To claim "humanitarian motives" when the motive is envy and its supposed appeasement, is a favorite rhetorical device of politicians today, and has been for at least a hundred and fifty years. — Helmut Schoeck

I completely agree with Helmut Kohl. I am not an advocate of the "United States of Europe," nor am I an integration fanatic. — Jean-Claude Juncker

Man is not valuable because he loves God. Man is valuable because God loves him. — Helmut Thielicke

Admirals and Generals always want more ships and more weapons and they take the arguments where they can find them. — Helmut Schmidt

In an era of magic conveniently available at the touch of a button, new music should on principle represent something akin to 'danger' ... — Helmut Lachenmann

I'm ashamed to be German. — Helmut Jahn

I doubt that the evil spirits of the past, under which we in Europe have already suffered more than enough this century, have been banished for ever. — Helmut Kohl

Considering that knowledge of the chemical as well as the optical principles of photography was fairly widespread following Schulze's experiment (in 1725) ... the circumstance that photography was not invented earlier remains the greatest mystery in its history ... It had apparently never occurred to any of the multitude of artists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who were in the habit of using the camera obscura to try to fix its image permanently. — Helmut Gernsheim

German and English firms operate internationally, while French firms do not. The only place where they all have work is in China. Anybody can sell himself in China! — Helmut Jahn

America has always imported history. — Helmut Jahn

Politicians and journalists share the same fate in that they often understand tomorrow the things they talk about today. — Helmut Schmidt

Working is actually a pleasure. It's just very time-consuming. It's a way of life. I find that I can work when I travel and work when I run. There is nothing like, on a rainy day, to work. — Helmut Jahn

I hate good taste. It's the worst thing that can happen to a creative person. — Helmut Newton

I have had and still do have every confidence in Paul Nitze, a man whom I have known for decades, one of the wisest servants of the American nation but always willing and capable of taking into account the interests of their allies, whoever: the British, or the French or the Germans or others. — Helmut Schmidt

President [Ronald] Reagan never has tried to become an expert on military matters. He never has endeavored to learn the most important details in that field, which lead to a situation in which his aides played a much greater roles than aides would have played under President Ford or let us say in the whole Nixon-Ford-Kissinger era. — Helmut Schmidt

The media is looking every season for a designer to tell a story. I have a long story I have to tell, continuing fluently year after year. — Helmut Lang

In the fashion world if you're successful, everyone loves you, and you have available every service. It's hard to walk away, except it wasn't hard for me. I had my mind completely made up. — Helmut Lang

The European Union Treaty ... within a few years will lead to the creation of what the founding fathers of modern Europe dreamed of after the war, the United States of Europe. — Helmut Kohl

Success on one project does not necessarily mean success in the next project. You've got to be prepared in everything you do. — Helmut Jahn

I think that the solution of the question of numerical superiority of Russian conventional forces has to be solved. — Helmut Schmidt

When I work, I work very hard. When I don't work, I have to do something where my endeavor can totally take me off what I do professionally, like sailing. It takes all your attention. — Helmut Jahn

I was never so directly inspired by fashion. It always came from somewhere else. — Helmut Lang

A theological thought can breathe only in the atmosphere of dialogue with God. — Helmut Thielicke

I have been underestimated for decades. I have done very well that way. — Helmut Kohl

I've never been interested in the event when I'm the center of attention. — Helmut Lang

I think only a superb news or reportage picture could move me. Other photographs may leave a strong impression on me, but they don't move me. — Helmut Gernsheim

The Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic 'you ought,' but in the magnetic field of Christian Freedom, under the empowering of the 'You may.' — Helmut Thielicke

What I try to do is a good bad picture. I work it out very carefully, and then I do something that looks as if it went wrong. — Helmut Newton

A perfectionist is someone who finishes the backside of a drawer, which I consider completely unnecessary. — Helmut Krone

People who have visions should go see a doctor. — Helmut Schmidt

I like photographing the people I love, the people I admire, the famous, and especially the infamous. My last infamous subject was the extreme right wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen. — Helmut Newton

What I find interesting is working in a society with certain taboos and fashion photography is about that kind of society. To have taboos, then to get around them that is interesting. — Helmut Newton

Higher ceilings allow the use indirect lighting, which is much healthier and reduces glare. — Helmut Jahn

They often ask me to shoot for them. But I say no. I think an old guy like me ought not take pages away from young photographers who need the exposure. — Helmut Newton

Fashion Week was at Bryant Park and there were a few shows like Marc Jacobs, or when Alexander McQueen came to town, that were offsite, Helmut [Lung] was offsite, but it was very intimate. It wasn't the way it is today where you have a thousand people at the show. You may have had 200 to 250 and it was really the trade and you know fashion greats. — Roopal Patel

Look, I'm not an intellectual - I just take pictures. — Helmut Newton

I'm just a nice and easy person. — Helmut Jahn

I have talked about the deterioration of the atmosphere between Washington and Moscow. It was quite clear that in the year 1980, which at the same time was an election year in America, these negotiations would not go very far, but immediately after the start of the Reagan administration we in Bonn started to try influencing them on the medium-range nuclear weapons negotiations, and we told them that in our view the best outcome would be zero-zero, zero on either side. — Helmut Schmidt

I don't believe that God is a fussy faultfinder in dealing with theological ideas. He who provides forgiveness for a sinful life will also surely be a generous judge of theological reflection. Even an orthodox theologian can be spiritually dead, while perhaps a heretic crawls on forbidden bypaths to the sources of life. — Helmut Thielicke

The normal reaction to tasks that overwhelm us, either because we cannot see how we can ever finish them, or because the level of difficulty is way beyond us, is frustration. Frustration breeds procrastination and welcomes distractions. — Helmut Sachs

When I came to America in the '60s, it was the place to be. I wonder if I'd come here today. — Helmut Jahn

You didn't just pay lip service to the goal of overcoming the division of Europe and Germany ... Rather, you put yourself at the forefront of those who encouraged us on the way to unity. — Helmut Kohl

It's my goal to make a building as immaterial as possible. Architecture is a very material thing. It takes a lot of resources, so why not eliminate what you don't need as long as you're able to achieve the same result? — Helmut Jahn

One of the cooler moments of my life was sitting front row at Helmut Lang! — Bethany Cosentino

I've never been a classic Gaulist! Not a Gaulist at all. — Helmut Schmidt

George Bush was for me the most important ally on the road to German unity. — Helmut Kohl

People gave us everything for free. We were allowed only so much film per picture, but there was no limit to the creativity. I like to say that they let us loose like wild dogs in the streets of Paris. — Helmut Newton

The term "political correctness" has always appalled me, reminding me of Orwell's "Thought Police" and fascist regimes. — Helmut Newton

I was lucky to have my wife as the art director, and it turned out to be quite something - a great success. I'm very proud of it. — Helmut Newton

I spend a lot of time preparing. I think a lot about what I want to do. I have prep books, little notebooks in which I write everything down before a sitting. Otherwise I would forget my ideas. — Helmut Newton