Daily Inspiration Quote by Gerhard Schroder

There’s a hard-edged clarity to Schroder’s line, and that’s the point: it sounds like common sense while quietly drawing a boundary around who deserves public sympathy. “We want to encourage” frames the state as a coach, not a caretaker; welfare becomes motivation, not protection. The phrase “those who are able to work” does the heavier lifting. It creates a moral sorting mechanism without naming villains. Able-bodied people who don’t work aren’t just unemployed; they’re implied to be choosing idleness, and therefore fair game for pressure, sanctions, or tightened benefits.

Then comes “no question,” a rhetorical door-slam. It signals decisiveness and preempts debate, as if any pushback is either naive or irresponsible. In a single breath, Schroder turns a complicated policy arena - labor markets, health, childcare, disability, regional job availability - into an issue of willpower. That compression is politically useful: it recasts structural unemployment as a behavioral problem and makes reform feel like restoring fairness rather than cutting support.

The context matters. Schroder’s chancellorship is synonymous with the early-2000s “Agenda 2010” and Hartz labor reforms, built around activating the unemployed, reshaping benefits, and expanding low-wage work as Germany struggled with high unemployment and stagnation. The line is tailored to sell reform to skeptical voters by appealing to a work ethic that reads as morally unassailable. The subtext is not just “jobs are good.” It’s “the social contract has conditions,” and the state reserves the right to enforce them.