In Friedrich Schiller’s ballad Die Bürgschaft, published in 1799, a man condemned to death asks the tyrant: Ich flehe dich um drei Tage Zeit, I beg you for three days’ time. His friend stays behind as a pledge and will die if he does not return. On the way back, floods and robbers hold him up. He keeps going, because the bloody tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that the friend broke his duty to the friend. Und die Sonne geht unter, da steht er am Tor. And the sun is setting as he stands at the gate. Da bin ich, für den er gebürget! Here I am, the one he stood bail for! The tyrant concludes: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. And loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.
One Man, One Word
Ein Mann, ein Wort. — One man, one word. The dictionary DWDS explains: one can rely on what this man announces. It also lists the variant eine Frau, ein Wort. In 2012 Der Spiegel used the phrase about the 89-year-old Henry Kissinger, who kept a promise to visit his hometown football club. In 2017 Die Zeit used it about Olaf Scholz, whose motto had always been Nur das versprechen, was man auch halten kann, promise only what one can keep.
Their Words Hold
On 20 January 2012 the general assembly of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Rostock adopted a guiding statement for honorable merchants. Ehrbare Kaufleute achten die Gesetze und halten Verträge sowie Abreden ein. Ihre Worte gelten. Honorable merchants respect the laws and keep contracts and agreements. Their words hold. They versprechen nur das, was sie auch halten können, promise only what they can keep. They are interested in caring for business relationships with customers and suppliers over the long term. In Hamburg, the Versammlung Eines Ehrbaren Kaufmanns traces its roots back to 1517. It meets at noon on New Year’s Eve, and more than 2,000 people attended the assembly at the end of 2014.
Trust Capital
A supermarket cashier, known in the media as Emmely, was dismissed without notice because she had redeemed deposit vouchers worth 1.30 euros that did not belong to her. She had worked for the company since April 1977. On 10 June 2010 the Federal Labor Court ruled on her case. A deliberate breach can justify dismissal without notice even when the damage is small. But the court also weighed the Vertrauenskapital, the trust capital, that she had built up in more than three decades of service without problems. The dismissal was invalid, and a written warning would have been enough.
The Craftsman’s Estimate
A German customer who calls a plumber without agreeing on a price still owes a definite amount. Section 632 of the Civil Code fills the gap. If a fee schedule exists, the scheduled fee counts as agreed. If none exists, the usual fee counts as agreed. The written estimate, the Kostenanschlag or Kostenvoranschlag, is free unless the parties agreed otherwise. Section 649 covers the case where the estimate turns out too low. If the work cannot be done without a substantial overrun, the craftsman must tell the customer without delay. The customer may then end the contract and pay only for the work done so far. The Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce explains that an overrun of 10 to 20 percent is probably not yet substantial.
Knigge on Keeping the Hour
Adolph Knigge’s Über den Umgang mit Menschen, On Dealing with People, first appeared in 1788. In the first chapter of later editions, Knigge tells his reader: Sei streng gegen dich selbst, pünktlich, ordentlich, arbeitsam, fleißig in Deinem Berufe! Be strict with yourself, punctual, orderly, hardworking, diligent in your profession. He gives a reason. Everyone likes to deal and do business with a person whose punctuality in word and deed can be relied on. Then he goes further. Be exactly where you mean to appear, at the set and proper hour, und wärst Du auch der einzige, der diese Ordnung beobachtet, even if you are the only one who keeps this order.
Rather Lose Money Than Trust
“Ich möchte lieber Geld verlieren als Vertrauen.” I would rather lose money than trust. The sentence is Robert Bosch’s, the founder of the Bosch company. A biography records that he repeated it emphatically in 1919. The magazine of the Hans Böckler Foundation called it perhaps his most famous sentence.
The Missed Train
Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung, The Metamorphosis, published in 1915, begins with Gregor Samsa waking up as a giant insect. His first worry is not his body. It is the clock. Es war halb sieben Uhr, und die Zeiger gingen ruhig vorwärts. It was half past six, and the hands were moving calmly on. His train had left at five, and the next one would leave at seven. Gregor thinks of his firm, which suspects the worst at the smallest failure. Then the firm’s chief clerk arrives at the apartment in person. He tells Gregor through the door: Und Ihre Stellung ist durchaus nicht die festeste. And your position is by no means the most secure. In five years of service, Gregor had not once been ill.
Reopening a Promise
Before the federal election of February 2025, the CDU and CSU promised in their program: Wir halten an der Schuldenbremse des Grundgesetzes fest. We are holding to the debt brake of the Basic Law. A month after the election, the party leader Friedrich Merz, not yet chancellor, led a reform of the debt brake through the outgoing Bundestag. It passed on 18 March 2025. In the ZDF Politbarometer poll that week, 73 percent of respondents said that the Union and Merz had deceived the voters. Among the Union’s own supporters, 44 percent said so.
The Friend Who Comes Back
Schiller wrote Die Bürgschaft in the summer of 1798, and it was first published in the Musenalmanach of 1799. Möros is sentenced to death for plotting against the tyrant Dionys. He asks for three days to see his sister married, and his friend stays behind as his surety. On the way back, a flood, robbers and thirst delay him. A servant tells him to turn around and save his own life. He goes on, because the tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that a friend broke his duty to a friend. He arrives as the execution begins and cries out: »Mich, Henker«, ruft er, »erwürget! / Da bin ich, für den er gebürget!« (Strangle me, executioner! Here I am, the one he stood surety for!) The tyrant gives in: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. (Loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.)