Otto Von Bismarck Quotes

The nation that has the schools has the future.

War should only be used for a policy worth its sacrifices.

A statesman ... must wait until he hears the steps of God sounding through events, then leap up and grasp the hem of His garment.

There are two things you don't want to see being made - sausage and legislation.

The Catholic priest, from the moment he becomes a priest, is a sworn officer of the pope.

I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.

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.

We live in a wondrous time, in which the strong is weak because of his scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.

We are better off not knowing how sausages and laws are made.

What we learn from History is that no one learns from History

Revolutions in Prussia are started by kings, and since it is a revolution, it is better to start it ourselves than to suffer of it

Lord takes care of babes, fools, and the United States.

Life has taught me to forgive much, but to seek forgiveness still more.

In England the more horses a nobleman has, the more popular he is. So long as the English are devoted to racing, Socialism has no chance with you.

Politics is like sausages, you don't want to watch either being made.

Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.

Universal suffrage is the government of a house by its nursery.

Man cannot control the current of events. he can only float with them and steer

Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.

Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.

You can do anything with children if you only play with them.

Vanity is a mortgage that must be deducted from the value of a man.

A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.

Show me an objective worthy of war and I will go along with you.

Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.

[Government]is cancerous in head and limbs;only its belly is sound, and the laws it excretes are the most strightforward shit in the world.

I have often regretted what I have eaten, but never what I have drunk.

People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made

Politics is the art of the next best.

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.

This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron.

The most significant event of the 20th century will be the fact that the North Americans speak English.

I have found that nothing so deceives your adversaries as telling them the truth.

Let us put Germany, so to speak, in the saddle! you will see that she can ride.

We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world; and it is the fear of God, which lets us love and foster peace.

My subject is my life, and my life is my subject.

Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.

Woe to the leader whose arguments at the end of a war are not as plausible as they were at the beginning.

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

One day the great European War will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans (1888).

Let them stew in their own grease (or juice).

You can't destroy the polish national-consciousness or Poles on the battlefield, but if you give them power, they will destroy themselves

Politics ruins the character

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.

There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America.

You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them

I consider even a victorious war as an evil, from which statesmanship must endeavor to spare nations.

There are two things civilized Man should never see being made: Sausages and Laws.

Politics is no exact science.

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.

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!

Beware of sentimental alliances where the consciousness of good deeds is the only compensation for noble sacrifices.

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.

Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable - the art of the next best

A Bavarian is half-way between an Austrian and a human being.

God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.

I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.

A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.

To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.

I have only one ambition left: I should like to have a good epitaph.

Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made.

A government must not waiver once it has chosen it's course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward.

Politics is not an exact science.

Nothing should be left to an invaded people except their eyes for weeping.

Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.

People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.

Better pointed bullets than pointed words.

The Balkans aren't worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier.

Physicians still retain something of their priestly origin; they would gladly do what they forbid.

God always looks after the fools and - and the United States.

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.

Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong: it is a geographical expression.

Fools you are. To say you learn by your experience. I prefer to profit by others' mistakes and avoid the price of my own.

If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.

If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.

The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood

Politics is not a science ... but an art.

The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night

I have wished to crush Rome that I might crush Christianity.

Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war

Political judgment is the ability to hear the distant hoofbeats of the horse of history.

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 bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.

Great men have great dogs.

Fools you are who say you like to learn from your mistakes. I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid the cost of my own.

No civilization other than that which is Christian, is worth seeking or possessing.

The statesman's task is to hear God's footsteps marching through history, and to try and catch on to His coattails as He marches past.

Hounds follow those who feed them.

The main thing is to make history not to write it

The luxury of one's own opinion.

A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.

In order to retain a certain respect for sausages and laws, one must not see them being made.

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.

Politics is the art of the possible.