Editing Johannes Rau (section)

==Motto and maxim==
The maxim of Rau was "to reconcile, not divide".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=27 January 2006 |title=Germany Mourns Outstanding Former President Johannes Rau |url=https://apd.media/news/archiv/4348.html |access-date=2023-12-20 |website=apd.media}}</ref>

As his personal motto, Rau adopted the [[Confessing Church]] dictum "teneo, quia teneor" (I hold because I am held).

In his acceptance speech after his election, Rau claimed "I never want to be a nationalist but rather a patriot. A patriot is someone who loves his fatherland. A nationalist is someone who condemns the fatherland of others."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Summers |first=James |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/870143850 |title=Peoples and international law |date=2013 |isbn=978-90-04-23296-9 |location=Leiden |pages=14 |oclc=870143850}}</ref> The quote can be attributed to the French writer [[Romain Gary]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-06-14 |title=The patriotic prejudice of George Orwell |url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-patriotic-prejudice-of-george-orwell/13929230 |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=ABC Religion & Ethics |language=en-AU}}</ref>