Otto von Bismarck Quotes

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

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

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

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.

The Americans are a very lucky people. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish.

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

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.

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

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

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

We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.

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.

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).

Never fight with Russian. On your every stratagem they answer unpredictable stupidity.

A generation that has taken a beating is always followed by a generation that deals one.

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

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.

People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch either of them being made

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

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

Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death.

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

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

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

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

I have always found the word 'Europe' on the lips of those who wanted something from others which they dared not demand in their own names!

A bad plan that is well executed will yield much better results than a good plan that is poorly executed.

Love is blind; friendship tries not to notice.

It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.

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

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

Your map of Africa is really quite nice. But my map of Africa lies in Europe. Here is Russia, and here... is France, and we're in the middle - that's my map of Africa.

The nation that has the schools has the future.

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.

You can do everything with bayonets, but you are not able to sit on them

Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.

I have never lived on principles. When I have had to act, I never first asked myself on what principles I was going to act, but I went at it and did what I thought fit. I have often reproached myself for my want of principle.

With bad laws and good civil servants it's still possible to govern. But with bad civil servants even the best laws can't help.

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

Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.

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

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

With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.

He who has his thumb on the purse has the power.

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence.

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

Great men have great dogs.

Laws are like medicine; they generally cure an evil by a lesser or a passing evil.

Fools you are who say you like to learn from your mistakes. I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid the cost of my own.

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