Otto von Bismarck Quotes

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

Hounds follow those who feed them.

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

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).

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you want to fool the world, tell 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great men have great dogs.

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

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

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

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