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

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.

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

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

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

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).

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