'In the Old World, a leader is criticised — and quits — for being too emotional. In the New World, a leader is criticised for not being emotional enough'

'The interests of Germany and Europe are the same: Germany should leave the euro'

'Perhaps tying works of art to their originating topography is vulgar and needs to be kept discreet. But history needs Nabokov. During the artistically formative years, he lived here in the 1920s and 1930s, he peerlessly described how Berlin's 300,000 Russian émigrés endured life after the Bolshevik Revolution.'

Alfred Toepfer posed as a peacemaker in postwar Europe and lavished awards on British artists. Unknown to them, he played a key role in the Third Reich and helped war criminals flee justice