BERLIN, Nov 2 (AFP) - The most potent symbol of European division, the Berlin Wall, gave rise to numerous memorable remarks. Fifteen years after its demolition, the following are some of the more striking quotations in chronological order:
"The building workers of our capital are mainly busy with house building and their manpower is fully used for that." -- East German leader Walter Ulbricht denying to reporters on June 15, 1961 that plans were afoot to erect a wall.
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." -- US President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, June 12, 1987.
"The Wall will remain as long as the conditions that had led to its construction are not changed. It will still exist in 50 and even in 100 years." -- Erich Honecker, East German communist party chief, January 19, 1989.
"The Soviet Union has no moral or political right to interfere in the affairs of its East European neighbours. They have the right to decide their own fate." -- Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in Finland, October 1989.
"East Germans are free to travel where they like. With immediate effect." -- Guenter Schabowski, East German politburo spokesman at a press conference, November 9, 1989.
"We are witnessing sad things in other socialist countries, very sad things." -- Cuban President Fidel Castro, November 9, 1989.
"I've just arrived from Berlin. It's like witnessing an enormous fair." -- West German chancellor Helmut Kohl, November 10, 1989.
"What belongs together is now growing together," former West German chancellor Willy Brandt, November 10, 1989.
"In our heads, we are much further apart than we were in 1990." -- Guenther Krause, East German negotiator on unification, 1997.
"The first breach in the Wall came in August 1980, when a great wave of strikes broke out all across Poland." -- Former Polish dissident Adam Michnik, November 1999.
"I never regretted my decision." -- Gorbachev, November 1999.
11/02/2004 13:28 GMT - AFP