Otto von Bismarck

Politics is an inexact science.
– Otto von Bismarck

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

Hounds follow those who feed them.
– Otto von Bismarck

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.
– Otto von Bismarck

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.
– Otto von Bismarck

Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of
politeness.
– Otto von Bismarck

An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.
– Otto von Bismarck

With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to do with a pirate, I
try to be a pirate and a half.
– Otto von Bismarck

A little caution outflanks a large cavalry.
– Otto von Bismarck

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

Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
– Otto von Bismarck

I am accustomed to pay men back in their own coin.
– Otto von Bismarck

Numerous politicians have seized absolute power and muzzled the press. Never in history has
the press seized absolute power and muzzled the politicians.
– Otto von Bismarck

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
– Otto von Bismarck

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 civilisation.
– Otto von Bismarck

It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.
– Otto von Bismarck

Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable, the art of the next best.
– Otto von Bismarck

Laws are like sausages: It’s better not to see them being made.
– Otto von Bismarck

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.
– Otto von Bismarck

Laws are like medicine: They generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.
– Otto von Bismarck

There is a providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children, and the United States of
America.
– Otto von Bismarck

When I have laid bait for deer, I don’t shoot at the first doe that comes to sniff, but wait
until the whole herd has gathered round.
– Otto von Bismarck

The main thing is to make history, not to write it.
– Otto von Bismarck