1815-1898
German-Prussian statesman
Otto von Bismarck quotes:
When you say that you agree to a thing in principle, you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out.
Nothing should be left to ministers and deputies.
All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.
For heaven's sake no sentimental alliances in which the consciousness of having performed a good deed furnishes the sole reward for our sacrifice.
Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.
Nothing should be left to an invaded people except their eyes for weeping.
Every courtesy to an opponent, even to the gallows.
Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable . . . The art of the next best.
It is desirable and it is necessary that the condition of affairs in Germany and of her constitutional relations should be improved., but this cannot be accomplished by speeches and resolutions of a majority, but only by iron and blood {eisen und blud}.
Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.
Preventive war is like committing suiside out of fear of death.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them.
A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.
He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.
Let us lift Germany, so to speak, into the saddle. It will certainly be able to ride.
Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle — that's my map of Africa.
With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.
A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.
People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
A statesman... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.
The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
Politics ruins the character.
An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.
No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.
A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
Politics is not an exact science.
The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.
A really great man is known by three signs... generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.
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