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 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).

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

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

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

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

The nation that has the schools has the future.