A Genuinely Fundamental And Hopeful Improvement In

I Am Not An Optimist, Because I Am Not Sure That Everything Ends Well. Nor Am I A Pessimist, Because I Am Not Sure That Everything Ends Badly. I Just Carry Hope In My Heart. Hope Is The Feeling That Life And Work Have A Meaning. You Either Have It Or You Don't, Regardless Of The State Of The World That Surrounds You. Life Without Hope Is An Empty, Boring, And Useless Life. I Cannot Imagine That I Could Strive For Something If I Did Not Carry Hope In Me. I Am Thankful To God For This Gift. It Is As Big As Life Itself.

My Dear Fellow Citizens: For Forty Years You Have Heard From My Predecessors On This Day Different Variations Of The Same Theme: How Our Country Flourished, How Many Millions Of Tons Of Steel We Produced, How Happy We All Were, How We Trusted Our Government, And What Bright Perspectives Were Unfolding In Front Of Us. I Assume You Did Not Propose Me For This Office So That I, Too, Would Lie To You.

Human Beings Are Compelled To Live Within A Lie, But They Can Be Compelled To Do So Only Because They Are In Fact Capable Of Living In This Way. Therefore Not Only Does The System Alienate Humanity, But At The Same Time Alienated Humanity Supports This System As Its Own Involuntary Master Plan, As A Degenerate Image Of Its Own Degeneration, As A Record Of People's Own Failure As Individuals.

Nothing Is More Powerful Than Individuals Acting Out Of Their Own Conscience.

Sober Perseverance Is More Effective Than Enthusiastic Emotions, Which Are All Too Capable Of Being Transferred, With Little Difficulty, To Something Different Each Day.