Top 117 Quotes & Sayings by Otto von Bismarck
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a German leader Otto von Bismarck.
Last updated on December 25, 2024.
An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.
Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Politics is the art of the possible.
Politics is not an exact science.
The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
A government must not waiver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
When you say you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
Politics ruins the character.
A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.
Politics is the art of the next best.
All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.
With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.
There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.
Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
Hounds follow those who feed them.
With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.
A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.
I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.
What we learn from History is that no one learns from History
man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer
Even the most favorable outcome of the war will never lead to the decomposition of the main forces of Russia, which is based on millions of Russian ... The latter, even if they break up international treaties, just as quickly re-connect with each other, like pieces of a particle of mercury.
We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.
I have always found the word 'Europe' on the lips of those who wanted something from others which they dared not demand in their own names!
People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made
You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them
God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America.
Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).
Do not expect that once taking advantage of Russia's weakness, you will receive dividends forever. Russian has always come for their money. And when they come - do not rely on an agreement signed by you, you are supposed to justify. They are not worth the paper it is written. Therefore, with the Russian is to play fair, or do not play.
I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle.
A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.
Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.
The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.
It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.
The government should cultivate the view also among the propertyless classes of the population, those who are the most numerous and the least educated, that the state is not only an institution of necessity but also of welfare. By recognizable and direct advantages they must be led to look upon the state not as an agency devised solely for the protection of the better-situated classes of society but also as one serving their needs and interests.
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best
I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth.
The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The voice of the Rothschilds prevailed... Therefore they sent their emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to open an abyss between the two sections of the Union.
The Americans are a very lucky people. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish.
The death of Lincoln was a disaster for Christendom. There was no man in the United States great enough to wear his boots and the bankers went anew to grab the riches. I fear that foreign bankers with their craftiness and tortuous tricks will entirely control the exuberant riches of America and use it to systematically corrupt civilization.
The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power ... Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favorable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood (Eisen und Blut).
He obtained from Congress the right to borrow from the people by selling to it the 'bonds' of States ... and the Government and the nation escaped the plots of the foreign financiers. They understood at once, that the United States would escape their grip. The death of Lincoln was resolved upon.
The nation that has the schools has the future.
A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.
Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.
A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.
You can't destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves
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