Otto von Bismarck Quotations

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

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

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 journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.

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

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

All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence.

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

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

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

The main thing is to make history, not to write it.

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.

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.

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

When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't 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.

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

Politics is the art of the next best.

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

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

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 secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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

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!

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.

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.

Great men have great dogs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earthly majesty is always akin to the fallen angel, who is proud and unhappy, beautiful but troubled, and whose plans and efforts, though vast, are denied access.

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.

Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

One can put some trust in the gratitude of a sovereign, and also in that of his family; under certain conditions, one can even rely upon it; but one can never expect anything from the gratitude of a nation.

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

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

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.

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 ...

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

Our German forefathers had a very kind religion. They believed that, after death, they would meet again all the good dogs that had been their companions in life. I wish I could believe that too.

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.

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

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

A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.

Politics are not a science based on logic; they are the capacity of always choosing at each instant, in constantly changing situations, the least harmful, the most useful.

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

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

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

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.

I must protest that I would never seek foreign conflicts just to go over domestic difficulties; that would be frivolous. I was speaking of conflicts that we could not avoid, even though we do not seek them.

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

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

History is simply a piece of paper covered with print: the main thing is to make history, not to write it.

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

We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world.

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

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

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

The nation that has the schools has the future.

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

Better pointed bullets than pointed words.

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

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

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

Hounds follow those who feed them.

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

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

I am bored. The great things are done. The German Reich is made.

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

I do not regard the procuring of peace as a matter in which we should play the role of arbiter between different opinions ... more that of an honest broker who really wants to press the business forward.

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

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

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

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