Otto von Bismarck

Let us put Germany in the saddle, so to speak—it already knows how to ride.

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

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

When a man says he approves of something in principle, it means he hasn't the slightest intention of putting it into practice.

A special Providence protects fools, drunkards, small children and the United States of America.

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

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

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

Politics is no exact science.

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

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

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 .

When you say that you agree to a thing in principle you mean that you have not the slightest intention of carrying it out in practice.

A fool learns from experience. A wise man learns from the experience of others.

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

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

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.

Whoever speaks of Europe is wrong, [it is] a geographical concept.

We will not go to Canossa.

Not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.

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

Politics is the art of the possible.