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This is an interesting argument. I will have to think about it, but I am sure there are great artists that had pleasant lives. Another side to this argument is that there is no adult human being who has not had some bad things happen in their life.

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Yes. If Lime had not been so busy killing kids, he might have cornered the market in Toblerone.

A country that produced people such as Bocklin, Durrenmatt, Fussli=Fuseli, Hodler, Honegger, Liotard, Pestalozzi, Raff, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johanna Spyri, and Johann David Wyss, to say nothing of the goddess Ursula Andress, has plenty of reason to feel proud of itself.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)

Much can be said about the Swiss, positive and negative (not very quick on women's suffrage, sheesh), but to bring in cuckoo clocks but not mention chocolate and knives rather hurts Mr Lime's credibility, which was already on thin ice.
I have seen enough to know I have seen too much.
ALOTO

I don't think he was so much justifying his behavior (which was obviously unjustifiable) as relativizing good and evil, in an effort to convince Holly that a moral sensibility is just a straightjacket for suckers.

The statement is wrong and probably Harry even knew this in-universe.
I think it is used to show how manipulative and amoral Harry Lime is. He is just straight-up lying.
Oh I don't know if Harry knew the statement was wrong.
Harry's point was not a "dig" at the culture of the Swiss people (as some others here have suggested). He was using the Swiss as an allegorical example. Harry's meaning was that peaceful times bring complacency and stagnation, while conflict can give rise to great ideas and great culture.
Of course Harry is most likely wrong about that, but perhaps he believed it himself.
I don't think Carol Reed or Orson Welles actually thought the words were true. All that matters is if Harry thought the words were true (or, as you pointed out, all that may matter is if Harry wants Holly to think it is true in order to justify his actions).

Well, Lime's certainly wrong about the brotherly love, democracy, and peace, as the Swiss cantons had their own civil wars and peasant rebellions. And Lime overlooks the fact that much of the mayhem that wracked N. Italy during the Renaissance was wreaked by mercenary companies raised and hired out by some of the Swiss cantons however, when the mercenaries found themselves on opposite sides fighting each other, the Swiss got out of the mercenary business.

The statement is wrong and probably Harry even knew this in-universe.
I think it is used to show how manipulative and amoral Harry Lime is. He is just straight-up lying.

Which is rarely used anymore by anyone under 55.

Seeing that so much discussion has gone into Swiss inventions, I vote for the one in 1938 by (chemist) Albert Hofmann: LSD

Do you want to eat sandwiches with holey cheese with little green things in it?

M'Wah.

Hi alfa,
I'm lurking behind the bushes, as usual.
Didn't make a vow of silence, I just talked myself hoarse, as it seems.

Hi pmvk,
Where ya been hiding???

This is a great contribution to humanity?

What about it?

Yeah, but what about that cheese with all the holes in it made by (Yuck!) microbes?

Well, according to Wikipedia (an unquestionable source
) abroad the cuckoo clock is not only a symbol of the Schwarzwald and of Germany, but, because of the cultural similarities and the popularity of these clocks, also of Switzerland and Austria.
But your observation is correct. Even if Switzerland is famous for its tradition of watch manufacturing, cuckoo clocks are traditionally produced in the Black Forest in southwestern Germany.
For me the associations contained in the cuckoo clock are similar to those of the garden gnome.

Cuckoo clocks come from the Schwartzwald - they are German.

I never understood what was wrong with cuckoo clocks. Wonderful invention.

Sweden gave the world Wallander and IKEA, so they can't be all bad.
I care nothing about cuisine, but I just find it funny when Americans judge (or rather mis-judge) the cuisine of other countries, based on what gets served up to them in their own country, which just happens to have a foreign name. However, looking back, I see you have already apologised to a Swede for getting this all wrong, so let it pass. However, you haven't apologised to the Swede for saying his country should be nuked for such an offence against culinary purity. You were presumably "joking" of course (though one can never be sure), but such "jokes" are about as "funny" as saying one has an explosive device in one's luggage at airport security.

Okay, so I gooofed up on a name. My bad. But the fact remains that Sweden was a warlike country until it got its butt kicked, like many others. That's what is relevant. Also, Sweden's history of selling to both sides during wars while staying "neutral" is well documented. It's central policy is to make nice to the apparent winner and assume America will always forgive, which it always does. As for cuisine, don't get smart with me. You'd probably go into a restaurant in Shanghai and order chop suey.